#twan

Kirkjufell, under a soft northern lights.

Image Credit & Copyright: Tunc Tezel (TWAN)

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After Sunset Planet Parade: Look up tonight and see a whole bunch of planets. Just after sunset, looking west, planets Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars will all be simultaneously visible. Listed west to east, this planetary lineup will have Venus nearest the horizon, but setting shortly after the Sun. It doesn't matter where on Earth you live because this early evening planet parade will be visible through clear skies all around the globe. Taken late last month, the featured image captured all of these planets and more: the Moon and planet Mercury were also simultaneously visible. Below visibility were the planets Neptune and Uranus, making this a nearly all-planet panorama. In the foreground are hills around the small village of Gökçeören, Kaş, Turkey, near the Mediterranean coast. Bright stars Altair, Fomalhaut, and Aldebaran are also prominent, as well as the Pleiades star cluster. Venus will rise higher in the sky at sunset as January continues, but Saturn will descend. [Scott Horton]

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"Then he showed me a small thing, the size of a hazelnut, nestled in the palm of my hand. It was round as a ball. I looked at it with the eyes of my understanding and thought, 'What can this be?' And the answer came to me: 'It is all that is created.' I was amazed that it could continue to exist. It seemed to me to be so little that it was on the verge of dissolving into nothingness. And then these words entered my understanding: 'It lasts and will last forever because God loves it. Everything that is has its being through the love of God.'"

~ Julian of Norwich (1342 – 1416)

Clouds and Crosses over Haleakala Image Credit & Copyright: Wally Pacholka (TWAN)