June2015 - Recommended Astronomical Observation

I still feel bad for Pluto.

July 14, 2015. Pluto gets center stage.

Indeed:

NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft will fly by Pluto with its closest approach on July 14th.

Shortly after sunset last evening, and well before the sky was appropriately dark, DonDiego managed to catch a brief view of Venus and Jupiter through hazy light clouds. The clouds thickened thereafter and that was the end of the show for poor old DonDiego.

Mid-month, when the Moon had been nearest the two planetary wanderers, it was completely overcast.

So, overall, this astronomical event was a bust up heh' on Tomato Ranch Ridge.

On the positive side, the recent cloudy, rainy weather has been beneficial in contributing to the early production of luscious tomatoes and squash and peppers.

It was a bust here too. The two brightest planets did not appear to form a single super-bright 'star of Bethlehem'. Venus overshadowed it's less bright cousin Jupiter...and they were still two distinctly separate planetary objects. I guess we're lucky the Three Wise Men did not confuse this phenomena with some kind of optical binary star observation and then dismiss it based on their parallax or radial velocity measurements

Some would undoubtedly concur that it is a stroke of good luck that the Magi from the East did not dismiss the phenomenon.
Others, . . . e.g. those who don't love the baby Jesus, . . . might well disagree.

DonDiego thinks Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, . . . although sometimes a mite chilly.