Did anyone see the waning crescent moon this morning, before dawn? She was a gorgeous little, sideways sliver, arching so enchantingly up at what I thought to be a huge and brilliant Jupiter. But a little checking on stardate.org seems to indicate that jupiter is up in the evenings, leaving the huge, brilliant orb to be my beloved Venus. I recently heard something about either venus or jupiter orbiting as close to the earth as it gets in 26 years.

It is certainly worth waking up early to see such a spectacular sight! It doesn't surprise me at all that the magi would travel so far in search of such a wonder....What a lovely gift to end the old year....