![]() ![]() The sun would circle you on the horizon because the Earth is spinning you under the sun!Įquinox Sun at the South Pole from Our Solar Siblings on Vimeo. How many hours of sunlight are at the poles on the Equinox?Īt the North and South Poles during the Equinox, you would get 24 hours of sunlight! Now it's the Southern Hemisphere's turn to get ready to spend some time at the beach.6. Take solace, though, in knowing that the whole world is experiencing the very same thing. You'll get less and less light until the winter solstice, and the days will grow colder. Happy first day of spring, Southern Hemisphere!Īnd welcome to fall, Northern Hemisphere! Enjoy this long day of sunlight, because dark days are ahead. When we're at autumnal equinox, they're at vernal equinox. Now reverse all of this for the Southern Hemisphere. Parity will again be reached on March 21 or 22, the vernal equinox for the Northern Hemisphere, and the whole process will repeat itself. The Northern Hemisphere is therefore in winter solstice. On December 21 or 22, the sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere, meaning the Northern Hemisphere is receiving the least sunlight it will get all year. Days and night reach parity, and because the sun is hitting the whole world head-on, every latitude experiences this simultaneously. On September 21 or 22, the sun's direct light has reached the equator. As the year elapses, the days slowly get shorter and cooler as summer gives way to autumn. When that occurs, the Northern Hemisphere is in the summer solstice. The sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer (66.5° latitude in the Northern Hemisphere) on June 21 or 22. Axial tilt is the reason for the seasons. ![]() The seasons have nothing to do with Earth's distance from the sun. They have, if you will, a terrible tan-and that's because they never receive solar radiation from a directly overhead sun (even during the long polar summer, when the sun never sinks below the horizon). The poles, you will note, are snow white. The lowest point is the Tropic of Capricorn. The highest latitude receiving direct sunlight is called the Tropic of Cancer. It will shine directly on the equator twice in a complete orbit-the spring and fall equinoxes-and at various points in the year, the most direct blast of sunlight will slide up or down. ![]() At various points in the orbit, the sun will shine directly on different latitudes. ![]() Now spin our little skewered Earth and place it in orbit around the sun. Shove a pole through the planet with one end sticking out the North Pole and one end sticking out the South, and angle the whole thing by 23.5°. As Earth revolved around the sun, the planet would be bathed in sunlight, but it would only be the equator that would always get the most direct hit (and the darkest tan). If there were no tilt, only one line of latitude would ever receive the most direct blast of sunlight: the equator. But you adjust, and it really does improve your tan, and you know this instinctively.Įarth works a lot like that, except it's operating by physics, not instinct. Solar radiation is hitting your entire back and arms and legs and so on whether or not you adjust your shoulder just so. The sun is a giant fusion reactor 93 million miles away. It might seem a little silly when you think about it. Why? Because you want the sun to shine directly on a different part of you. Rather, as you tan, every once in a while, you shift positions a little. You don't wait 30 minutes then flop over and call it a day. (Stay with me here.) If you lay on your stomach, your back gets blasted by the sun. The easiest way to imagine that tilt is to think about tanning on the beach. The answer to each of these questions resides in Earth's axial tilt. ![]()
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