"Venus and Mars At Their Closest On The First Day Of Winter, and : Why
The Winter Solstice Was A Time Of Ancient Fear"

Scheduled air date: 1997 Dec 15-21

Mars and Venus grow closer together this week, until their minimum separation December 21st.

December 21st also marks Winter Solstice, when the Sun reaches its southern-most point.
(This illustrates the path of the rising Sun at the beginning of each season.)

If you wish to view illustrations for other episodes, please see our Star Gazer Illustrated directory.

Illustrations on this page were created using TheSky Astronomy Software, an advanced desktop planetarium program designed for Windows. Copyright © 1999-2006 by Software Bisque, Inc.