What more can we say about Groundhog Day that we didn’t say in 2015?
See the end note about enlarging illustrations.
This morning, if the groundhog, or woodchuck, were to emerge before sunrise, ready to watch for his shadow, he would find a not very interesting pre-sunrise sky, with only the Moon up high; Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus are close to the Sun, Mars and Mercury are around in the evening sky. And he would have a clouded sky anywhere in Europe north of Corsica, or, I think, in most of the USA, except perhaps the high Plains and some of the Mississippi valley. In any case, the groundhog is a cautious citizen and is self-isolating in his well-stocked burrow.
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ILLUSTRATIONS in these posts are made with precision but have to be inserted in another format. You may be able to enlarge them on your monitor. One way: right-click, and choose “View image”, then enlarge. Or choose “Copy image”, then put it on your desktop, then open it. On an iPad or phone, use the finger gesture that enlarges (spreading with two fingers, or tapping and dragging with three fingers). Other methods have been suggested, such as dragging the image to the desktop and opening it in other ways.
Sometimes I make improvements or corrections to a post after publishing it. If you click on the title, rather than on ‘Read more’, I think you are sure to see the latest version.
This weblog maintains its right to be about astronomy or anything under the sun.
Imbolc is a cross-quarter day, marking the moment when the Sun is half way from winter solstice to spring equinox. At 15 hours UTC tomorrow, Wednesday February 3, the Sun will be at 315 degrees ecliptic longitude, so I will celebrate Imbolc tomorrow this year. I imagine the Druids noted when the Sun lined up with specific standing stones at their henges, rather than referring to a printed calendar or a smart phone.
Today,2nd,but some sources say that it’s the 1st,of February is the old Celtic festival of Imbolc so named as the ancient Celts had never seen a Ground Hog(not sure I’ve seen one either?)!it was Christianised into Candlemass and represented the Earth becoming pregnant with the life which would be born in the spring.
Yes, see Astronomical Companion section “Traditional Times”.