Coming Together at Night

The Jupiter-Saturn conjunction that we noted earlier was visible last night with the naked eye.

The planets appeared in the west just above the roof of a house in our cul-de-sac. We spent 15 minutes in the cold night air, as did many of our neighbors, spaced appropriately of course.

Although it's possible that the "Great Conjunction" of the two largest planets in the solar system was the Star of Bethlehem mentioned in the New Testament, other heavenly phenomena that occurred near the time of Jesus' birth make it unlikely.

Nevertheless, as the ancients might have experienced two thousand years ago, we felt a feeling of hope for better times as we looked at the lights in the sky.

Note: the Chronicle captured the image near Coit Tower.