Weekend Diversion: A little Sun for everyone

Posted by Ethan on March 21, 2010
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Beauty is a form of genius – is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation. It is of the great facts in the world like sunlight, or springtime, or the reflection in dark water of that silver shell we call the moon. -Oscar Wilde

Yesterday was the spring equinox for the Northern Hemisphere, and my city was lucky enough to have a glorious day, clear skies, warm weather, and I spent most of the day outside. I had the type of day that Dan Tyminski pines for in this song, Some Early Morning.

But yesterday — the equinox — was special for another reason that you don’t often hear about. You see, the Earth rotates on its axis, tilted at a fairly severe 23.5 degrees.

During the months April through August, the northern hemisphere gets long days and lots of sunlight, while the South Pole gets nothing but freezing darkness. On the other hand, from October through February, the southern hemisphere gets the long days, while the North Pole never sees the Sun.

But our equinoxes — and we only get two per year — are very, very special. The Sun illuminates all parts of the Earth equally on these days.

These are the only days of the year where everywhere on Earth has a chance at Sunlight. Moreover, on the equinoxes, everybody gets twelve hours of Sun (well, they would if the skies were clear) and twelve hours of night. Everyone. North Pole, South Pole, Equator, and everywhere in between. Starting today and all the days after for the next six months, someone at the South Pole will never see the Sun. Just like for the prior six months, Santa Claus (and everyone else at the North Pole) never saw the Sun.

The spring equinox was not only our switch, it was one of two days a year where everyone got the same amount of daylight. That’s even where the word equinox comes from: equi = equal + nox = night. So I hope you enjoyed it, and to those of you in the northern hemisphere with me, we’ve got six months where things should only get better!

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Comments

  1. #1 Sili
    March 21, 2010

    Congrats! You’ve been Mabussed.

    Just listened to the 365 Days of Astronomy for the 20th going over the same deal.

  2. #2 Lotharloo
    March 21, 2010

    And yesterday was also our new year because of the exact same reason!

  3. #3 Julian Smith
    March 21, 2010

    Surely you mean 3 months where things should only get better? After the summer solstice the days get shorter and that, to me, is definitely things getting worse. It’s after the winter solstice that things get better for 6 months.

  4. #4 Alistair Wall
    March 21, 2010

    The poles get 24 hours with the sun on the horizon.

  5. #5 mansour daftarian
    March 26, 2010

    It is the intelligence behind all the rules of the nature which attract my attention and invite me to think about.

  6. #6 Benjamin Bratt
    April 30, 2010

    This means at certain times of the year, the Northern Hemisphere is more directly facing the Sun, while 6 months later when the Earth is on the other side of the Sun, the Southern Hemisphere is more directly facing the Sun.
    Annuities

  7. #7 free business cards
    June 21, 2010

    Beauty is a form of genius – is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation. It is of the great facts in the world like sunlight, or springtime, or the reflection in dark water of that silver shell we call the moon.

  8. #8 Kaizen
    July 8, 2010

    This means at certain times of the year, the Northern Hemisphere is more directly facing the Sun, while 6 months later when the Earth is on the other side of the Sun, the Southern Hemisphere is more directly facing the Sun.

  9. #9 Document Scanning
    July 11, 2010

    Starting today and all the days after for the next six months, someone at the South Pole will never see the Sun.

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    Beauty is a form of genius – is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation. It is of the great facts in the world like sunlight, or springtime, or the reflection in dark water of that silver shell we call the moon.

  12. #12 TInh Duc
    August 6, 2010

    This means at certain times of the year, the Northern Hemisphere is more directly facing the Sun

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    September 2, 2010

    I love summer and the sun wish it lasted a little longer in this area before i know it we are back to the dark days!

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    September 17, 2010

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  22. #22 Georgette Pauls
    October 10, 2010

    I love science. So many young people don’t even know what an Equinox is. Thanks for the post.

  23. #23 cara memperbesar
    October 27, 2010

    Starting today and all the days after for the next six months, someone at the South Pole will never see the Sun.

  24. #24 cara memperbesar
    October 27, 2010

    This site is for the birds! I post, then never see my comment or it takes 10 minutes for it to appear

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    October 28, 2010

    One such is Daniel Crandall who has taken exception to a piece that I wrote about Avatar for the forthcoming number of the New Atlantis and that has already burun estetiği been posted on the magazine

  26. #26 Jason
    November 11, 2010

    I work outdoors and i love the summertime because i can work until 9pm and the sun is still shining. During the winter time, the flashlights come out at 4pm. Major bummer.

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    November 16, 2010

    Don’t think I could handle such extreme time changes like that Jason. Can barely handle daylight savings in the winter with the sun setting sooo early.

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  31. #31 Annuities
    December 2, 2010

    This means at certain times of the year, the Northern Hemisphere is more directly facing the Sun, while 6 months later when the Earth is on the other side of the Sun, the Southern Hemisphere is more directly facing the Sun. Annuities

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    Of course, there is nothing to forbid the old and the shriveled from joining in, but the sight of their doing filme onlineso is an embarrassment, all the greater when they themselves seem unaware of this.

  33. #33 Make Money Quickly
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    I almost forget everything about geography since I left middle school…LOL. Anyway, thanks for putting this up, really learn something from it.

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    January 28, 2011

    This means at certain times of the year, the Northern Hemisphere is more directly facing the Sun, while 6 months later when the Earth is on the other side of the Sun, the Southern Hemisphere is more directly facing the Sun.

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    February 19, 2011

    Beauty is a form of genius – is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation. It is of the great facts in the world like sunlight, or springtime, or the reflection in dark water of that silver shell we call the moon. It is the intelligence behind all the rules of the nature which attract my attention and invite me to think about.

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  39. #39 Johnny
    March 24, 2011

    What I find odd is that during winter, Earth is closer to the sun than during summer. It’s the affect of the axis tilt that causes more sunlight to hit the Earth in the summer that counts. Annuities

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    I particulary appreciated the Oscar Wilde quote. It’s a very good one. Beauty doesn’t need explanation. What wonderful words.

  42. #42 dan
    May 18, 2013

    the picture is wrong. the axis of the earth is not perpendicular to the suns rays contact.

  43. #43 Wow
    May 19, 2013

    It is if it’s one of the two equinoxes, dan.