Solstice countdown

T

TortoiseAWD

New member
I think pretty much everyone from the northern latitudes is looking forward to this, whether you're astro-geeky enough to know it or not: Dec. 22 is the shortest day of the year (the winter solstice), now only 17 days in the future.



Yeah, it'll still be cold and crappy for a couple more months, but after the 22nd, we'll be getting more and more daylight each day. Seasonal Affective Disorder sufferers rejoice!



Tort

(sick of driving home from work in the dark)
 
Spilchy said:
Or going to work when it is dark.



Is this when I can balance an egg on it's point? :confused:
Click to expand...
That would be the vernal equinox (the beginning of spring, when day and night are of equal length) . . . and it's a myth: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_089.html



You can stand an egg on end any day of the year; it just takes patience and steady hands.



Oh, and as a quick primer for anyone that isn't familiar with the terms: There are two solstices and two equinoxes each year. The solstices (winter and summer, around Dec. 21/22 and June 21/22) are the shortest and longest days of the year, and the equinoxes (March 21/22 and Sep. 21/22) occur when day and night are the same length. Each solstice or equinox marks the beginning of a new season.



Those dates show above are for the northern hemisphere; for those down under, their summer solstice is coming up (their seasons are opposite ours).



Tort

(Orbit faster, dammit!)
 
TortoiseAWD, a bit of useless trivia for you that you maybe don't know, here in OZ we change season on the 1st of the month. Why I don't know.:nixweiss
 
TortoiseAWD said:
That would be the vernal equinox (the beginning of spring, when day and night are of equal length) . . . and it's a myth: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_089.html



You can stand an egg on end any day of the year; it just takes patience and steady hands.
Click to expand...



Why must you burst bubbles all the time and debunk everything Tort? You and your snopes and straightdope! :(



I wanted to balance an egg :bawling:
 
after having spent nearly thirty years in Alaska's arctic, this is a date that brings very good memories. For a construction worker the longer the days the longer the hours. Alas, now it only means that i will soon leave Texas to go back to work. With the days getting longer it is only a short time for the construction season to begin.
 
Woot! More time for detailing the rides!



cwcad, do they really make you guys work in winter up in alaska? How cold is it when the construction season starts?
 
Neothin said:
Woot! More time for detailing the rides!



cwcad, do they really make you guys work in winter up in alaska? How cold is it when the construction season starts?
Click to expand...



Some jobs are better suited for winter. The best example is oil pipeline work. Once the oil is found there needs to be a road built which is made of ice. Then a pad is needed to put the pipeline on. All this work needs to be freezing when it is done. The ideal temperature is minus twenty degrees. The colder it is the better. Once a pipeline job is started it is very seldom shut down short of near zero visibility during a snow storm. Temperature is never a factor. Only visibility. There were weeks that the high of the day never got out of the fifty below range.



I now only work highway construction in Alaska. The company I work for usually starts at the end of March and works to the middle of October.
 
I for one, appreciate the short and cool days. I actually like knowing, in the springtime, that days are getting shorter! Fall and Winter are by far my most treasured times of the year.

I hate the heat, and I hate the summer sun!
 
TortoiseAWD said:
Seasonal Affective Disorder sufferers rejoice!



Tort

(sick of driving home from work in the dark)
Click to expand...



I'm with ya on this one. I can't get anything done around the house anymore. Just when I finish unwinding from work to step out and get productive on the yard, the sun laughs as it sets in the distance at 5:30. Stupid clock shift. Die daylight savings time, die.
 
Spilchy said:
Why must you burst bubbles all the time and debunk everything Tort? You and your snopes and straightdope! :(



I wanted to balance an egg :bawling:
Click to expand...

i think that page is still wrong cuz the only time ive ever been able to do it is on that day. this is the internet, u can find plenty of pages for it or against it. :LOLOL
 
2000firebird said:
i think that page is still wrong cuz the only time ive ever been able to do it is on that day. this is the internet, u can find plenty of pages for it or against it. :LOLOL
Click to expand...
All it takes to disprove the myth (which says that the balancing act can only be done on the equinox) is for one person, anywhere, to balance an egg on a day other than the equinox. That's been done (by a number of people, in a number of places).



Tort

science curmudgeon
 
Interesting note: although the solstices are the longest and shortest days of the year, they are not the days when the sun sets latest and earliest. Those days come a couple days after the solstices. The reason for this is that the sun also RISES earlier and later on the solstices, and then the daytime shifts a little bit, and does it a little bit sooner than the days begin to shorten/lengthen.





Tom
 
:confused: :soscared: :help:

The Winter solstice only conveys the shortest day of the year (days will now have more sunlight), as summer indicates the longest, as days will now shorten, correct?
 
a.k.a. Patrick,



Days have been getting shorter since the autumnal equinox back in September (beginning of fall). The winter solstice is the shortest day (start of winter), and the days begin to get longer. The vernal equinox in March marks the beginning of spring, when we start having more daylight hours than dark.



Maybe this will help: http://www-spof.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Sseason.htm



Here are some other interesting facts (interesting to me, anyway): The sun's zenith (highest point in the sky) varies each day, and depends on your latitude. On the longest day of the year, the sun reaches it's highest angle in the local sky. In the northern hemisphere, you can calculate that angle with this formula:



(90' - <your latitude> + 23.5')



Here in Omaha (about 40' latitude), that's 73.5'. On the shortest day, it's



(90' - <your latitude> - 23.5')



Again using Omaha as an example, the sun only reaches 26.5' high in the sky on the winter solstice at solar noon (mid-day, Dec 22). "High" noon isn't so high, is it? No wonder it's so freaking cold.



Tort
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top