For the last three nights, I have faithfully journeyed to the shore to give witness and homage to the brilliant dancing glow of our sister worlds, Jupiter Venus Mercury. And for the last three nights, clouds as dense as the ocean itself poured their libations directly upon our heavenly kin. So I spent some time on Stellarium (a free star map software program available online) mapping out what I missed and making this cool mural.
Beginning in late May, when Venus began her ascension past the sun and into our darkening twilight, the paths of the three planets were destined to meet, forming the beautiful and rare CoNjUnCtIoN. An ironic intersection of time / space where to our Earthbound eyes the gentle wanderers appear to head toward collision and certain death. Yet in the sprawling metropolis of solar satellites, there is currently little fear of such destruction. (While rouge asteroids and comets travel to the beat of their own orbits, and occasionally make contact with a planet, the solar system has chilled out greatly since its earlier party days and few mega collisions happen anymore.) So while we watch Venus shooting up like a Chinese lantern on a windless night, inching past Jupiter and mingling with the usually shy Mercury, take note that this brilliant ballet is nothing more than a quirk in our earthbound skies. And I love every moment.
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