On a recent night, I let our dogs out the front door at about 11:15. It was Dec. 20, the day after the full moon, and the day before the winter solstice. As the dogs were doing their business sniffing around and watering the foliage, I looked up and noticed not only the bright moon, but an expansive ring around it.
I brought the dogs back in, told Trish about the ring around the moon, and we went out the back of the house where we have a better view of the sky. This time, I noticed a white streak, probably from a passing jet, just crossing into the right side of the ring.
Duly impressed by the sight, Trish returned to her office to whatever she was working on. But I stayed out because I noticed that streak was quickly sliding left through the circles and in a minute, at about 11:25, it would cross through the moon.
When it did, I snapped a couple of pics, including the one above. I went back inside, showed them to Trish and said, “Hey, it looks like a cosmic clock. It’s five to five.”
I went to my room and after a few minutes decided to send the pic to Trish and daughter Megan in Orlando. That was when I realized that, no, it wasn’t just five to five, it could also be 11:25. I looked at time and saw it was 11:34 as I sent the pics. So when I took the photo, it was very close, if not exactly 11:25. A cosmic clock!
