By David Ward
Does it seem like the days are getting shorter and shorter at an almost alarming rate? If so, you are not just imagining things.
Right around the fall equinox, the length of daylight lessens faster that at any other time of year. On Sept. 22 the apparent motion of the sun in the sky crossed the celestial equator heading south, officially ending summer and beginning the season of autumn. In three months our planet will reach that point in its orbit known as the winter solstice. The length of the days will change very slowly, and it will seem like forever before they begin to lengthen again.
One good thing about shorter days is that the nights are longer and we do not have to stay up so late to see the stars. Here are a few things to look at just after it gets dark, now that the smoke has cleared and we can finally see the sky again.
Low in the west, orange-colored Arcturus twinkles in the fading twilight. One of the most amazing stars in the sky, Arcturus is a visitor from another galaxy that happens to be flying by us right now. Be sure to look for it while you can. In another 100,000 years it will be out of sight far away from us.
Low in the southeast, two objects are hovering near the horizon. Yellowish Saturn will be the easiest to see, then lower still look for the reddish star Antares. Saturn is the second-largest planet in our solar system, much bigger than the earth, but Antares wins the prize for size. It is 700 times the diameter of our sun, which is of course much larger than any of its planets.
The Big Dipper is dropping low in the northwest, and high overhead and slightly to the west three bright stars make a large open triangle. Two of those stars, Vega and Altair, are close neighbors of ours in the vast cosmos. But Deneb, the one to the northeast, is the most-distant star we can easily see. It is so far away that no one is quite sure how far away it is, but its light has taken well over 1,000 years to reach us.
Do you get up early in the morning before sunrise? Be sure to take a quick look in the east for brilliant Venus blazing away just above where the sun will come up. You can also get a preview of the stars of winter. Look for Orion, the hunter, in the south and the bright star Sirius to its lower left.
Is the end near?
In case you missed it, the world ended. At least it did according to Biblical researcher David Meade. To give him credit, the world may not have completely ended on that day, but just started to end. The job will be done by early October or shortly after.
Why? That is 33 days after the solar eclipse last August, and the number 33 is an important one in the Bible apparently. My question is, why not 33 days before the eclipse? I guess the answer to that is that the powers that be wanted to give us the opportunity to witness that beautiful eclipse before destroying us all, and I am grateful for that.
The cause of our demise will be the planet Nibiru, which has been around in theory for a while. According to doomsday worriers, it entered our solar system years ago and has taken up residence right here in the inner solar system between the sun and us. The problem with all this, is why has nobody seen it? It is supposed to be four times larger than the earth so it would be bright in the sky, brighter than anything else other than the sun or the moon.
There are other problems as well, such as its gravity would have disrupted the orbit of the earth and that eclipse would not have happened anyway. Some say Nibiru is really a small star, and it will either crash right into us or come close enough to rip us to shreds. Either way, it does not look good for us.
It sounds like fake news to me, but if anybody notices the world ending, please let me know. I would not want to miss it!
