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Happy Solstice!!!

Posted on 12/21/2013 9:16:19 AM PST by djf

Winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, arrived officially this morning about 5 minutes ago, at 9:11 PST.

The days get longer from here!


TOPICS: Astronomy; Chit/Chat
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To: djf

Does the rate of change stay consistent . Do we pick up more sunlight per day right after the solstice or around the equinox?


41 posted on 12/21/2013 11:26:23 AM PST by Lurkina.n.Learnin (This is not just stupid, we're talking Democrat stupid here.)
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To: Unrepentant VN Vet

Now that is funny right there!!


42 posted on 12/21/2013 11:40:14 AM PST by murrie (Mark Levin: Prosecuting stupidity nightly.)
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To: Lurkina.n.Learnin

At solstice, the change is pretty slow - only a few seconds per day.

But by the time equinox gets here, the change is the largest it will get - over 3 minutes per day.

Which doesn’t sound like a lot, but 3 weeks at 3 minutes per day is a bit more than an hour change of daylight.

These numbers are latitude related - the change at or near the equator is almost negligible.


43 posted on 12/21/2013 11:40:30 AM PST by djf (Global warming is a bunch of hot air!!)
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To: djf

Thanks. So the short days are going to seem like they drag on forever. Too bad Obama doesn’t sign an executive order reversing this law of nature.


44 posted on 12/21/2013 11:54:09 AM PST by Lurkina.n.Learnin (This is not just stupid, we're talking Democrat stupid here.)
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To: SamAdams76

You could always move Rosie O’Donnell to even out the earth’s equilibrium. I understand her head has it’s own gravitational pull.


45 posted on 12/21/2013 12:00:30 PM PST by Blackirish
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To: Lurkina.n.Learnin

If you like your sunshine, you get to keep your sunshine...

Thank God somebody way bigger than Zero and the Congressrats set it up. Otherwise, it would have been screwed up to the max a long, long time ago!


46 posted on 12/21/2013 12:02:39 PM PST by djf (Global warming is a bunch of hot air!!)
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To: djf
Actually, the date of the earliest sunset is long passed - Dec 8 this year.

I have been checking the sunset times in Pittsburgh. Here they are:

  Date     Sunset
20131209 - 4:53
20131210 - 4:53
20131211 - 4:53
20131212 - 4:53
20131213 - 4:53
20131214 - 4:53
20131215 - 4:54
20131216 - 4:54
20131217 - 4:54
20131218 - 4:55
20131219 - 4:55
20131220 - 4:56
20131221 - 4:56
Note that the sunset seems to be accelerating towards the later.

Although the solstice has the shortest amount of daylight, the later time of sunset seems to make the day longer.

I'm not sure why this is - I think it has to do with the non-sphericity of the earth.

And it only holds for the Northern Hemisphere.

47 posted on 12/21/2013 12:32:46 PM PST by FroggyTheGremlim ("It is not the color of his skin, ... it is the blackness that fills his soul")
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