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mahatmakanejeeves

(60,969 posts)
Sat Dec 4, 2021, 12:11 PM Dec 2021

Sunset Friday was almost our earliest; turnaround to come soon

Last edited Sun Dec 5, 2021, 07:56 AM - Edit history (1)

{Edited to change name and add material. Original name: "Friday's sunset"}

I caught it while walking toward the Braddock Road Metro station. I stopped to take a picture or two.

This is not my account.

Tonight’s sunset in DC was one of my favorite yet Orange heart



{edited to add this article, which I read in Saturday's paper}

Local

Sunset Friday was almost our earliest; turnaround to come soon

By Martin Weil
December 3, 2021 at 9:02 p.m. EST

We who hate to see that evening sun go down, especially so early, got good news Friday. It won’t go down much earlier, and as if in compensation for daylight’s brevity, we witnessed a spectacular sunset.

The sun left us at 4:46 p.m. according to the Time and Date website. On Saturday it will be 4:45, but it won’t set earlier, according to the website. By Friday it will again be 4:46.

The Dec. 21 solstice is still the shortest day. Earth’s orbit is nearly a circle, but not exactly. Deviations may be small but cannot be ignored. Essentially, they begin soon to help extend daylight slightly in the evening, while it still recedes in the morning.

But such concerns may seem mere fussiness in the face of the polychromatic hues of the sunset.

As each cloud, often ragged and rippling in texture, assumed a deeper, darker purple, it was tinged or streaked with the red and gold fire of expiring daylight.

By that display, both gaudy and delicate, burning with warmth in a cold season, a short day received an almost operatic farewell.

By Martin Weil
Martin Weil is a longtime reporter at The Washington Post. Twitter https://twitter.com/martyweilwapost
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