It’s not like one has to stay up late, get up early, travel far from home for most, or spend money. Not worth it to step outside at sunset and look up for a few minutes to see an exceedingly rare celestial event, b/c of why—that it was in the news? It’s more rare than a total eclipse of the sun, than meteor showers, than comet sightings, etc. If nothing else it at least identifies where Jupiter and Saturn are in the evening sky so one doesn’t need a cell phone’s digital celestial chart to locate them. You’re seeing an alignment of planets, respectively, 500 million (Jupiter) and 1 billion (Saturn) miles from Earth!! It’s fascinating. People spend a bunch of money to travel from all over the world to see the tajmahal (?).Yeah, I saw it. Not worth the hype.
You went all the way to Florida to see it?The great conjuction? After sunset last night (12/21) we went to the Gulf coast beach in Naples, Florida, facing West and standing in the cold (for Florida) and wind. We saw a semi-bright star at about 30 - 40 degrees above the horizon, which was, in fact, two close stars when we used our binoculars. There were lots of other star gazers around us and they all asked: "Is that it?, Could that be it? I think so but I'm not sure", so it was sort of a disappointment. Someone who spoke with some possible authority said that he had seen the planets with their moons and was sure we were seeing "the conjunction". It was interesting but, I have to say, it did not live up to the hype about an 800 year Christmas star. Nonetheless, it's always good to get out to the beach at sunset and share such an event with our mostly mask-wearing neighbors.
Yep, that's what Bill Murray said.South Jersey viewing was obscured by clouds also. Hope to see it tonight.
For me it's the opportunity to see something that I will never see again.
Kind of like enjoying today because I'll never see this one again.![]()