January 2021 - On & Off Earth

The standard posting on a day I spend finishing the column. Where were you on Y2K? If you don't know, you're likely a kid..

Quite a few quakes today, 6.7 off Chile'; no tsunami reports. Chilly start here but has made in to the 50's - woooooo!

January 2021 - On & Off Earth

Amidst the viral and other mania of 2020, it was only recently that another time of worldwide mania came to mind: Y2K. If you remember where you were 21 years ago, and it was at a party, children born after that day are becoming legal to buy adult beverages this year..and they have no concept of a time before the internet or cell phones and consider those of us at those Y2K parties, old.

I have two new cousins, baby boys born in this wildest of years; I wonder and worry about the world they will grow into. What will the legacy of 2020 be 21 years hence? Earth and time will tell, moving ever onward!!

At some point in January, toward the middle of the month, you’re going to realize it’s 6:00pm  and it’s still somewhat light outside; the planet tilting sunward again, days growing ever so slightly longer. Bundle up and get out for a stroll to enjoy the extra light and then linger into twilight, catching the bright stars of winter as they “turn on” and become visible.

While there is a little more sunlight every day, sunrises are still very late coming; the latest for the year is actually on the 4th (earliest sunset was back on December 7th, see me in person for the crazy explanation why those events don’t occur at the solstice).

Only Mars remains in the evening sky as the great planet show of 2020 winds down quickly into the new year. Jupiter and Saturn continue to sink lower and set earlier each night as Earth speeds away from the two Gas Giant, leaving them directly behind the sun and out of sight by month’s end. Venus continues to beam brightly as the Morning Star for early risers.

The first quarter moon slides below Mars on the 20th and 21st. Without leaves on the trees, the Full Wolf Moon on the 28th will seem much brighter than full moons in warmer seasons; winter full moonlight walks are a delight, any snow cover a bonus.

Earth reaches perihelion early on January 2nd, our closest to the sun for the entire year. Closer to the sun means we travel faster through space and why winter, although it may not feel like it, is the shortest season. Another reminder, it’s our tilt not our solar distance driving Earth’s seasonal changes.

Earth’s tilted axis also wobbles, shifting “traditional” zodiacal dates about a month from when established in ancient times. The sun is well into Sagittarius to kick off January, moving into Capricorn on the 20th.

This past Sunday I noticed something seldom seen this year, the sky crisscrossed with contrails. Condensation trails, high in the atmosphere, from jet exhaust carrying people home from Christmas gatherings. In a more normal year, a normal sight, but this year, likely continuing the spread of a virus we should have, could have, but still have not controlled.

Yet, amazing scientific advances have produced Covid19 vaccines in record time. Let’s roll up our sleeves America and get vaccinated, while still keeping our distances and our faces covered, and get this killer under control, moving our country and world toward safer and more normal days in 2021.

Randy Holladay