During the dark cold times of winter, sunset is mid-afternoon (about 4:30 it's pretty dark), but now as summer solstice approaches, I can enjoy lingering sunsets until about 11:30. Perhaps this oughta be a question for the injuneer - I was wondering how many miles south I'd have to go for sunset to be at 7:30 now, and about 6 in mid-winter. Well?

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), May 21, 2001

Answers

Hmmm. That is a real puzzler and for sure.

I would think that it all depends on if you are a goose. The way I figure it, if you could fly like a goose then you would be up in the air and closer to the sun and so the light would last longer but only if you were flying up because if you were flying down then the sun would be getting farther from you and by the time you hit the ground it would most certainly be sunset. And I think if you were at the equator and flying it would always either be light or dark, depending on which side you were on.

Uh, I should just remind you the above is not a scientific answer. All seriousness aside, here where I am it gets dark as late as 9pm in the summer and as early as 4pm in the winter. Hope this helps. And I'm sure that our Good Sir Injuneer will be able to come up with the right answer and make it all perfectly clear. Unless it's dark.

-- (sonofdust@sun.set), May 21, 2001.

Well, right now the sun is setting here somewhere approaching 8pm. In the winter it gets dark about 4:30, but we also set the clocks back an hour in the fall, so if the time was the same, it would be dark at about 5:30, so N. Illinois wouldn't be very far from the times you would like.

Seems to me that so much daylight would make it difficult to sleep at night (if you can call daylight night).

-- gene (ekbaker@essex1.com), May 22, 2001.

If anybody wants one, email me and I'll build you an amillary sphere to show what time (and more important) angle to the northeast and northwest the sun actually DOES rise and set in the summer, to the southeast and southwest in winter.

Unless you're in the land of OZ or AS.....

Depends on your latitude.

Was working one summer in Europe, which is actually much, much further north than most of the Canadian population. (Chech. Republic is where Newfoundland and vancouver are, Spain and Italy are about the latitude of NY..... Gilbralter and Turkey are at the same latitude as Norfolk VA, Egypt is about the same latitude as Jacksonville FL, and Houston.)

Anyway, I was in Slovakia that summer, and the D%&M birds would wake me up every morning at 4:00 AM ......

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), May 24, 2001.

What's your longitude? It will add (or subtract) aeveral minutes from the local apparent time for your watch....

As I understand, you want a 7:30 PM sunset (now being May 21), and a 6:00 PM sunset in "midwinter" .... Is midwinter the absolute of winter (21 December) or the "average mid-winter" --- Say, 21 January or 21 February? 45 days (median of "mid-winter" from the 21 December maximum mid-winter) would give a 6:00 PM sunset at 5 February and about 6 November..

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), May 24, 2001.

I forgot to adjust for daylight savings. Taking into account that we are actually an hour off in our time, our sunset is over at about 1045pm (very little light left in the sky, other than moon and stars). Of course, then, our sunrise starts closer to 330 than 4am. I'm glad we have dls!

Anyway, we live real close to 53.5 degrees latitude and 113.5 degrees longitude. When we had cousins visit from near Stavanger, Norway, they said our climate was very similar to theirs, although they live at very close to 59 degrees latitude. The ocean makes quite a difference.

Robert, I'd be happy to take a look at an amillary sphere, if I had the slightest idea what one was ;-) At a guess, I think it's a kind of globe that shows sunrise, and sunset?

-- Tricia the Canuck (iam@so.confused), May 26, 2001.

I am tempted to make a comment on Robert's mammillary sphere, but can't bring myself to type it.

-- gene (ekbaker@essex1.com), May 27, 2001.

Ouch. Ooopsie. (You figured that if I make 'em, I'd remember how to misspell 'em....)

Like a globe, but hollow and reversed. Rather than showing what the globe looks like from the outside (from space) - it shows what the space looks like from the earth at any given point.

The armillary sphere is made up of rings and bands representing the equatorial circle (the sun's path at 3/21/xx and 9/21/xx), the Tropics of Capricorn and Cancer (min and max sun travel points in the sky at 6/21/xx and 12/21/xx), a meridian band - the point where local solar time is 12:00 every day, a horizon band (a flat band representing the horizon at the observor's latitude and longitude), and typically a Polaris line pointing to the north star at the local latitude, the cardinal directions (E/S/W/N), and sometimes the zodiac circle. Add a few marks to show the hours of the day on the back part of the equatorial circle and you have a perfectly designed global sundial.

Anyway, where the various bands and rings intersect at the horizon band and at the meridian band defines the angle (position) where the sun (or moon) will be on that date and at what time on that date: its height and angle from the horizon, and it's angle from due west or due east.

Did you know that the suns rises in the east and sets in the west only two days a year?

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), May 29, 2001.

Okay - one sphere coming .... how's 10" sound?

Now, about that date for the 6:30 sunset ..... when should we set the date to set the time of sunset in mid-winter?

Isn't it fun scheduling the solar system?

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), May 29, 2001.

Make it 6:00 in mid-winter, Robert. 6:30 in mid-winter would be on the South side of the equator, I'd think.

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), May 30, 2001.

It was ...

(sings badly, scaring the cats...)

"South of the 'quator ... way down past Mexico way...

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), May 31, 2001.

Ring is finished, still working on the frame ..... what color do you want? Gold? Burnished copper? Gray?

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), June 01, 2001.

Gold.... mmmm, or blue, or any colour that tickles your fancy

Here I sit recovering from a 12 year old's birthday party and sleepover. Yawwwwwn

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), June 02, 2001.