June 21, 2004

  • Although the Solstice of Summer (northern hemisphere) started yesterday, it seems that today will be the longest day of summer.  That’s because solstice started around sunset yesterday and will end around sunset today, hence the “longest day” really covers today.


     


    For several days around the solstice, the sun appears to be ‘still” in the sky.  That is, it appears at the same and most northernly elevation at noon and the length of the days are almost the same.  As we move away from the solstice,  the sun will journey ever more southernly (from the earthling perspective) and be directly over the equator at noon on the autumnal equinox (Sep 22nd, fall begins).  I don’t care to ponder what happens after that.


     


    How long is the “longest day”?  It depends on your latitude. Here are some representative samples from the U.S.ofA. :


      


    Nome, AK


    Sunrise:  4:21 am AKDT


    Sunset:   1:46 am AKDT


    Length of day:  21h 25 m


    Visible light:     24 hours


    Tomorrow will be -42s shorter.


     


    Fargo, ND


    Sunrise:  5:32 am CDT


    Sunset:   9:25 pm CDT


    Length of day:  15h 53 m


    Visible light:    17h 13 m


    Tomorrow will be -6s shorter.


     


    Madison, WI


    Sunrise:   5:18 am CDT


    Sunset:    8:41 pm CDT


    Length of day:  15h 23m


    Visible light:    16h 34m


    Tomorrow will be -5s shorter.


     


    Cleveland, OH


    Sunrise:   5:53 am EDT


    Sunset:    9:04 pm EDT


    Length of day:  15h 11m


    Visible light:    16h 19m


    Tomorrow will be -4s shorter.


      


    Miami, FL


    Sunrise:    6:30 am EDT


    Sunset:     8:15 pm EDT


    Length of day:  13h 45m


    Visible light:    14h 37m


    Tomorrow will be -3s shorter.


     


    (Want to get your own stats for your location?  Go to the wunderground.)


     



     


    Woohoo!  I get to run 4 seconds longer tonight in Dreamland (cemetery) before they lock me in.  I actually got locked in last Friday night.  But as the gatekeeper was leaving, he saw me out of the corner of his eye and returned and set me free.  They are supposed to lock the gates at 'dusk'.  Obviously his 'dusk' and my 'dusk' are not quite in synchronicity.

Comments (231)

Comments are closed.

Post a Comment

notforprophet

Recent Posts

Categories

The End of Days

June 2004
M T W T F S S
« May   Jul »
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
282930