The shortest day.

[Andy in Sig]

We should go back to the pagan celebration calander :?:
may 1st fertility may day
june 21st midsummer
sept 22nd autumn harvest
dec 21/22nd midwinter return of the sun

Sounds much better than all this religious nonsense and there would be no more easter hopping around all over the place as well.

 

[Fnaar]

We should go back to the pagan celebration calander
may 1st fertility may day

I'll get Mrs F to put it in her diary.... brace yourself, Mrs F!

 

[ArDee]

The shortest day varies according to where in the leap year cycle we are. The longest night is always the night of the 21 - 22 December. The shortest day is the 21st for the 1st and 2nd years after a leap year and the 22nd is the shortest day for the 3rd and 4th year after a leap year.

Similarly as the shortest night is in June and the longest day varies each side of it depending on the position of the year in the leap year cycle.

 

[Blue]

I'll get Mrs F to put it in her diary.... brace yourself, Mrs F!

It's already in the diary - the christians hijacked it and called it Easter.

The same twits are responsible for us all celebrating the winter solstice on 25/12 and calling it christmas

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

It's already in the diary :

Ahem, does this mean that it is you who will be attending to the lady's needs?

 

[Pete]

Possibly pete can help here.

Don't think I could possibly add to the excellent stuff on this thread already...or maybe?...

Dec 12th saw the earliest sunset for 2007 (3:51pm). The evenings have now started to draw out.... the mornings still continue to draw in until about the 31st...

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.3843#solstice

Very good - now it's down to someone (not me) to explain the Equation of Time and how it leads to that (to some) surprising bit of irregularity. Hint: it's not entirely down to the Earth's orbit being elliptical instead of circular, though that plays a part in it. Any takers? Or are you all going to do the boring bit and just link to Wiki?

This is when it gets difficult. I always hated the geometry bit of astronomy...

 

[laurence]

We should go back to the pagan celebration calander
may 1st fertility may day
june 21st midsummer
sept 22nd autumn harvest
dec 21/22nd midwinter return of the sun

you're forgetting the vernal equinox - march 21st. also marks the earliest day in the year that i will get my hair cut

 

[laurence]

pete... is it due to the earth wobbling on its axis too?

 

[spandex]

can i just say that the shortest day for me is going to be the 25th as i dont have to do a thing. just get up wate for my sis to pick as up have lunch hand over some box's get a lift back go to bed. day over no work, cooking, cleaning no nothing.

 

[Pete]

pete... is it due to the earth wobbling on its axis too?

Thankfully, no . Else, it wouldn't just be Saturday Night yobs throwing up in the street...

I was hoping that people who were interested in it (the Equation of Time, I mean: and I assure you, it used to be a lot more important to folks in the glorious days when the map of the world was mostly pink, and navigation was by good old-fashioned sextant...) would just Wiki the subject and save me the trouble.

It's mainly due simply to the tilt in the Earth's axis, which means that the Sun's apparent path around the Ecliptic during the course of a year, whilst being nearly uniform when measured against the Ecliptic, is not uniform when that motion is projected onto the celestial Equator. Think of it as a sort of foreshortening effect on the movement.

 

[on the road]

There seems to be some confusion between the Winter Solstice and the shortest day. The Winter Solstice is at 06:08 on 22nd December, but the shortest day depends on where you are on the earth's surface due to the fact that the earth is constantly moving in it's orbit around the sun.

 

[laurence]

Thankfully, no . Else, it wouldn't just be Saturday Night yobs throwing up in the street...


It's mainly due simply to the tilt in the Earth's axis, which means that the Sun's apparent path around the Ecliptic during the course of a year, whilst being nearly uniform when measured against the Ecliptic, is not uniform when that motion is projected onto the celestial Equator. Think of it as a sort of foreshortening effect on the movement.

the sun's path? i thought we moved around the sun.... i've been lied to (now i'm fuzzy).

well, i knew it was due to the tilt of the earth, i though the earth also moved a fraction on that tilt as it goes around.

it's an aberration is what it is.

 

[ChrisKH]

Easter is the more obvious time for a fertility day (or week); May always seems a bit late to lay down seed, so to speak. As evidence I give you my two offspring, born days apart in December. I recall joking with Mrs KH about having a Millenium baby and she said 'right let's get started' expecting she would take some time to fall. First attempt; bullseye. So my son arrived earlier than (jokingly) planned. Ditto son no. 2.

 

[haggard rider]

Whatever it is or isn't it is my birthday.

 

[Kirstie]

Happy birthday haggard rider!