Why the Earliest Sunset of the Year is NOT on the Solstice
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When living in Alton NH my house had a good view of the sunsets in winter. Noticed a shadow edge of a window that was projected onto another wall. The positions of the shadow as the December days went on was evident. being due to the Earth’s orbital movement.
I painted a yard stick like strip of wood painted white and attached it to that wall. Each sunset I’d make a mark on the stick and as the days went on many marks showed the movement of the sun. As the shadow hit the 12/21 time, a couple of days later you could see the suns movement returning in it’s movement to spring. Did this many years and the movement was duplicated of course. Getting closer to spring the daily movement was great.
This back and forth movement of the sun during the year and seeing it on the stick reminded me of Simple Harmonic Motivation of the Earth while in rotation, like a pendulum. At the Autumn and spring dates, the sun’s movement is the greatest. At the peak Summer and Winter times the movement is the slowest relative to what we observe.
Conserving the sun’s movement via the window shadow gives enlightenment and helps prevent the northern latitudes “Cabin Fever”, spring is coming! If you have the same opportunity, try it. I’m in southern Alabama winters now and maintain eastern time on a clock. At 4:15 pm (dark in the northern states), it’s still daylight here, and hour difference CDT.
I like the later sun periods, but the sun doesn’t rise as early. The Pensacola FL is latitude 30 deg 30 mins. VT/NH/ME is about 44 deg latitude, a 13.5 deg diff. The Polaris (North) star is that much closer to the horizon, and the sun’s position as well.
Now that's a ton of science! I love the information that explains the suns position is actually relative to your location even with a State never mind the country or the world, I have never thought about that before; if you live in South East Kentucky, the sun rise/set time may be different than a person living in North West Kentucky. I'm a Canadian from Ontario and where I am, South Central Ontario, during the mid summer the sun sets around 2130 - 2200 but in Northern Ontario, Manitouwadge (about 5 hours North East of the Minnesota border & 11 hours from my house) the sun doesn't seem to actually fully set.
walking in a wooded park near a field couple weeks ago; got dark about 4 pm; (and chilly); another field had more light;
there was a big temperature difference in the field near the woods @ sunset (Conn.) v. a bigger field which got more sunrays; my conclusion is: where the field meets the woods is the warmest spot; because the sun reflects the light onto the field creating solar; the woods protect from wind. nice we will be getting more sunlight in the after; the sunrays are so pretty in the woods + fields; : )
Nice we will be getting more sunlight in the afternoon; the sun-rays are so pretty in the woods + fields;
The Czechs say: "Lucie, noci upije a dne nepřidá."
Lucie (on 12/13) drinks the night and does not add the day.
I created a chart for our region (N50 E15) a few years ago.
But the shape of the sunrise and sunset curves varies a lot depending on latitude.
Since URL links are not allowed here, you must find this chart yourself. Its name is "Lucie noci upije" and is in PDF format.
sundialer
Since the solstice has the fewest minutes of daylight, how is that not the darkest? It may get dark earlier in the early days of December, but according to your article there are still more minutes of daylight at that time.
Yes, technically, the solstice is the day with the shortest minutes of daylight. Bob is essentially saying that these preceding days with such early sunsets simply feel like longest, darkest nights, essentially because we’re more aware of the dark hours near the dark of night than nearer to dawn. After the solstice, the days get “longer.”
I love these columns about the heavens.
I think I must be the only person that loves Winter, and Standard Time. It's a reprieve from the heat and long days of summer in Texas.
Your not the only person who loves winter. I sleep better and I love getting up early and having my first cup of coffee on my porch while the sun is coming up. I have always been a winter person....snow, cozy fireplaces, holidays.....etc.