Tuesday, November 13, 2007

When Was Sunset. Q2 of the Big Here

Sunset was at 5:13 pm today.

Favourite recommendation:
Complete Sun and Moon Data for One Day from the U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department.

Using the link above, I determined that for Detroit, Michigan, the length of the shortest day of the year begins at 7:59 am and ends at 5:03 pm and that for the longest day of year, the day begins at 5:55 am and ends at 9:13 pm.

I never gave the matter much thought before but now I find it odd that sunrise varies over only 64 minutes while sunset varies over 4 hours and 10 minutes during the course of a year (at my present the latitude).

So using the Sun and Moon Data website again, I plugged in the opposite geographical coordinates of Detroit. Instead of N42, I plugged in S42 and instead of W83, I put in E83 and then lo and behold, I found a place where the sun rises at 3:49 AM. That is, if I plugged in the right time zone. I've always had difficulty wrapping my brain around the concepts of time and longitude.

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