Tam and I went out yesterday in the early evening to see what progress had been made on the planets. The answer was “A lot!” For one thing, a sun has risen at the head of the solar system.

Tam Lin stands on the sun and looks toward the inner planets.
Mercury and Venus weren’t noticeably different than they had been a few days earlier, but the earth has developed a dramatic cloud cover.

The earth on June 14 (seen from other side)

The earth on June 10
The freeform splotch on Mars seems to be evolving into something more regular. The color of Mars has also changed, but the Red Planet isn’t looking very red yet.

Tam visits Mars on June 14

Mars on June 10
Beyond Mars serious progress was in evidence: Jupiter and Saturn are now much more than white rings on the asphalt.

Tam studies Jupiter

That yellow band across the middle might be the beginning of Saturn’s rings.
What was going on with the outermost planets, Uranus and Neptune? I couldn’t see that far from Saturn, and even at this scale that’s quite a hike for puppy with short (but lengthening) legs, so we decided to leave them for another day.
Oh, he’s growing already! And what an awesome planet project -…..
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He’s an armful!!
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I love how the school children do this each year. Tam is adorable!
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This year’s fifth-graders get to do it because this section of the bike path got repaved last fall, erasing the work of their 2016 predecessors. I was overjoyed when I learned that the planets would be coming back in the spring — and they are! In 2017 they did a solar system on the walkways behind the school. There’s not enough room back there to do the distances to scale, but it’s still very cool.
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Yes, very cool! I’m so glad, too.
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Tam is such a traveler–first West Tisbury, now the universe!
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We visited Neptune yesterday afternoon!
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