Winter solstice 2020: Sunshine Returns (gradually, over the next several months)

Monday, 21 December, is the winter solstice!  We've done it!  Made it to the darkest day of the darkest year.  We start looking up again after this!  Soon we can pack away our SAD lamps and vitamin D tablets, and trade them for sunglasses and garden noms!  We're going to get through this!  Yes we are!

Monday, 21 December, is the winter solstice!  We've done it!  Made it to the darkest day of the darkest year.  We start looking up again after this!  Soon we can pack away our SAD lamps and vitamin D tablets, and trade them for sunglasses and garden noms!  We're going to get through this!  Yes we are!

I've been so looking forward to it, I love when it starts to stay lighter longer every day! 

Sorry if this is cruel @jfkimberly , but it's on topic with solar system news:  Has anyone else seen the counjunction between Jupiter and Saturn?  We went to the local overlook (Richmond Hill, home of Bianca Jagger) and saw it through a telescope tonight.  Very cool!

Sorry if this is cruel @jfkimberly , but it's on topic with solar system news:  Has anyone else seen the counjunction between Jupiter and Saturn?  We went to the local overlook (Richmond Hill, home of Bianca Jagger) and saw it through a telescope tonight.  Very cool!

Do not apologise!  Just because I have to stay cooped up doesn't mean everybody does.  As long as you're safe, you shouldn't feel bad about what you do.

Was it your family's telescope (how powerful is it?), or was there a skywatching event and someone else provided the telescope (still, how powerful was it?)?

Yay! Longer days are here again.

Plenty of bulbs already showing above ground.

Do not apologise!  Just because I have to stay cooped up doesn't mean everybody does.  As long as you're safe, you shouldn't feel bad about what you do.

Was it your family's telescope (how powerful is it?), or was there a skywatching event and someone else provided the telescope (still, how powerful was it?)?

  Bizarrely, it was one of those big metal telescopes they have at overlooks where you put a quarter in and it works for 5 minutes.  Except it's posh Richmond so no quarter required.  I would have thought that they would never work as they are built more for trying to spot London buildings or whatever, but it really worked OK.