Winter begins Dec. 21 at 4:02 a.m. and sunset that day is 4:36 p.m. but the days start getting longer now and sunset on New Year’s Day is 4:43 p.m.
A rare celestial event will also occur around the first day of winter as Saturn and Jupiter will appear closer in Earth’s night sky than they have since 1226.
You will notice two bright dots (Jupiter and Saturn) getting closer and closer to each other every night from now until Dec. 21 In the southwestern sky just after sunset. They will be low on the horizon so you need to look soon after the sun goes down to see them. They will be so close that they will appear to make a bright double planet.
This rare event is being called the Christmas Star.
If you have someone on your Christmas list who loves weather, check out windandweather.com or acurite.com or amazon.com and search for weather items.
Steve Norris provides information to Emergency Management Agencies in many counties in Tennessee. Contact him at weather1@charter.net with questions, to provide a weather update for your area or to suggest topics for his column.
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