Happy Winter Solstice.
Today, at 17:47 GMT, the Sun reaches the southernmost point in its annual up-and-down journey in the sky. Because the Earth’s axis is tilted, the Sun gets higher in the sky in the summer, and lower in the winter. Today marks the moment when the center of the Sun just kisses that lowest point. From here on out, every day until the summer solstice next June, the Sun will get higher in the sky at local midday.
Fellow Contrarian contributor Chris Parizo sent me this awesome link to an animation that depicts the the scope of the known Universe, starting from a vantage point in the Himilaya Mountains and leaving Earth, the solar system, the local stars, the galaxy, the local cluster of galaxies and the observable Universe and finally showing the CMBR (light left over from the Big Bang). Then the view returns us to Earth. The relative distances are represented during the journey. It’s like the Charles and Ray Eames film, Powers of Ten, but without the nano-scale parts. Watch it in HD for full awesomeosity. I used to create this same effect using an amazing piece of astronomy software called Starry Night Pro, which let you change your distance from Earth from any starting point. The Hayden Planetarium also has it’s own free atlas software that will let you create your own animations. Neat!