Winter Observations

Thursday morning, as I walked to work, the moon was high in the pale blue winter sky to the south.  A "third quarter" moon, as it was half lit at the midpoint of the cycle between the full moon and the new moon.  Next to it, two long jet contrails hung in the air corridor running north to south above the Atlantic coast states.

It was a striking image - a blue canvas with a half white circle, and two straight white brushstrokes running past.  In the next instant, my brain, evolved to notice movements, drew my attention more closely to the contrails.  Were they moving?  Yes, and quite quickly.  Apparently there was a strong west to east flow at that level of the atmosphere.  With the moon as a reference point, it was apparent that the contrails were moving sideways - not dispersing at all - just sliding across the sky from right to left.  The jet trails were like the dye put in water to see how the currents flow, or smoke in a wind tunnel.  They let me see what would otherwise have been an invisible movement of air - the static-appearing blue sky was really in dynamic motion.

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This morning, as I walked down Dale Drive toward the path that cuts through to Highland Drive, past a wooded lot, I saw a shape against the snow.  Is that a deer?  I think so.  As I started up the path, each step drawing me a little closer, I could tell that indeed it was a deer, lying in the snow, head up and alert.  Then I saw more brown shapes, and some movement.  Three deer were lying in the snow, and two were up walking around.  It was 12 degrees.  Though I know these native animals are built to deal with such weather, so long as it doesn't last too long, I still felt a bit sorry for their plight as I trudged off to a warm office for the day.

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The familiar evening stars and planet were up as we left La Ferme in Chevy Chase after Pam's birthday dinner, bright in the dry and dark sky - Jupiter, the constellations of Gemini and Orion - were the most prominent.  The shift in their apparent position in the sky since the fall is easy to see.  And compared with the positions of Castor and Pollux, the two brightest stars in Gemini, Jupiter continues to edge away from them and over in the direction of Orion.