Look up: Two equinoxes

If you’re able to step outside at around 7 p.m., the brightest star in the west is actually Saturn. Jupiter is overhead and now we have Mars joining them in the southeast. It too travels across the south sky toward the west as the night passes. Then the Geminid meteor shower peaked Wednesday and ends Saturday. I was fortunate enough to see a shooting star while stargazing Wednesday night around 8 p.m. It was too chilly for me to hang out and look for more. Still there’s a good chance to see some Saturday night since the moon doesn’t rise until 12:56 a.m. and it’s a fairly large meteor shower. It’s rated at 120 meteors but that’s on the day it peaks.

However, instead of discussing what’s in our night skies, I’d like to remind you that Wednesday is Winter Solstice. It officially arrives at 1:43 p.m. for those of us in San Mateo. That means it’s the shortest day of the year and the official start of winter. This is the day our planet is tilted as far away from the sun as possible, which also means the sun’s path is as low in the sky as it can be. As a result, your shadow will be at its longest if you stand outside at around noon. If you do the same thing during the summer solstice, there will be almost no shadow. The word solstice comes from the Latin words, sol “sun” and sistere “to stand still.” It’s because for a few days before and after the solstice, the sun’s path across the sky appears to freeze.