Japanese Maple at UNC Arboretum (Dec 3, 2017)
December Solstice (Winter Solstice) Thursday, December 21, 2017 at 11:28 am. This day is 4 hours, 51 minutes shorter than on June Solstice.
The winter solstice indicates the shortest day and the longest night of the year in the Northern hemisphere and brings the first day of winter.
Maple -UNC Arboretum Dec 3, 2017
Tomorrow night residents will gather just after dark at Meadow Park in my neighborhood for Cosmos & Cocoa, a sky-watching event planned by some tireless volunteers on our social committee. While we sip hot chocolate, experts from Morehead Planetarium at UNC will provide a laser guided sky tour with star charts. They will also bring several telescopes so we can view far off stars and planets.
Speaking of Morehead Planetarium: On December 21, 1968 three astronauts who trained at the Morehead Planetarium were launched into space on NASA’s first manned mission to the moon. These men, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, orbited the moon on Christmas Eve and showed us a new way to view the earth.
Happy Solstice!
The Earth and Moon, Dec. 24, 1968. Image Credit: NASA
Image Credit: NASA
pbmGarden 
That’s one handsome Japanese maple! Enjoy your sky tour tomorrow – it sounds like fun.
Thanks Kris. The maple is like a graceful dancer.
Interesting history at the planetarium! Sounds like you have a fun evening planned–enjoy! I thought we had it bad with a loss of more than 6 hours from June to December, but for Anchorage, Alaska, it’s nearly 14 hours! I don’t know how they do it!
Hoping for clear skies tomorrow. Enjoy as much daylight as you can Beth!
I hope some day my Japanese maple looks like this one! 😉
Happy Solstice, Susie!
It’s graceful and dramatic.
Happy Solstice, Susie. Sound like you’re going to have a lot of fun tomorrow night. Hope you have good weather and especially clear sky.
Thanks. To you too.
Cosmos and Cocoa sounds like a great event! Happy solstice to you!
Thanks!
What a great thing to do, so interesting.
Weather proved cloudy but event was fun anyway.