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Equinox

Tomorrow morning at 3.06 we'll be at Spring Equinox.  It seems hard to believe, for me at least, maybe because it's been so cloudy and miserable lately it doesn't feel like we're getting anything like 12 hours daylight yet. 

I like the look of this little experiment you can do, except it doesn't look possible here because of the cloud: Find an empty space such as a park or a parking lot where there are few tall buildings, trees or hills to obstruct the Sun. Find your location's latitude. Subtract this number from 90. This will be the angle you will affix the stick in the ground.  If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, use your compass to find south and point the stick in that direction. If you're in the Southern Hemisphere, point the stick or the ruler to the north. Using the protractor fix the stick in the ground at the angle you just calculated - remember to point it in the direction opposite to the hemisphere you are on. Wait till Noon and see the shadow of the stick disappear. At Noon, the stick will have no shadow at all!  https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/ten-things-march-equinox.html

Anyway, lets enjoy the changing seasons and look forward to some longer warmer days.

Comments

  • Leave the house at 10 to 6 every morning and it definitely seems lighter that end of the day. 
  • thought this was about the Leicester Square nightclub back in the day ;)
  • Made a visit to Knowth last week. The east-west orientation of the passages at Knowth suggests astronomical alignment with the equinoxes. It’s not far from New Grange, all fascinating stuff. Well worth a visit.
  • Happy Equinox everyone! Looking forward to all those long dark nights (not).
  • Stig said:
    Happy Equinox everyone! Looking forward to all those long dark nights (not).
    I'll see you on the other side in 6 months. 
  • Stig said:
    Happy Equinox everyone! Looking forward to all those long dark nights (not).
    I'll see you on the other side in 6 months. 
    I absolutely love Spring Equinox, this one as important as it is is a bit meh to me. What I really hate that's coming up soon is the clocks going back. Pointless and painful.
  • It's not pointless. You get more light in the mornings which firstly means that schoolchildren don't have to go to school in the dark. 
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  • MrLargo said:
    It's not pointless. You get more light in the mornings which firstly means that schoolchildren don't have to go to school in the dark. 
    Nope. They get to go home in the dark instead.
    Maybe they need better teachers

  • It's not pointless. You get more light in the mornings which firstly means that schoolchildren don't have to go to school in the dark. 
    Even with the clock change, school kids in the north and in Scotland still go to school in the mornings in the dark. 

    And it's dark when they come home again. 

    As someone said, pointless.
  • Pretty sure we didn't even have standard time in the UK until trains and stuff
  • McBobbin said:
    Pretty sure we didn't even have standard time in the UK until trains and stuff
    Before standard time, Bristol time was 10 minutes slower than London.
  • I like the twice yearly clock changes. Distincts the seasons. End of October & you know winter is on it's way. End of March and summer is just around the corner.

    As for why.....don't give a shit really. Only thing to remember is that the world is governed by GMT or BST. As Al Murray once said......the Germans don't sit down for dinner until we tell them to 😄.

  • It's not pointless. You get more light in the mornings which firstly means that schoolchildren don't have to go to school in the dark. 
    In their mum's SUV.
  • McBobbin said:
    Pretty sure we didn't even have standard time in the UK until trains and stuff
    Before standard time, Bristol time was 10 minutes slower than London.
    And at Penzance station in Cornwall, 24 minutes behind London Paddington time.

    Nothing really changes. 

    Trains are still 24 minutes late arriving at Penzance  :D
  • Oggy Red said:
    McBobbin said:
    Pretty sure we didn't even have standard time in the UK until trains and stuff
    Before standard time, Bristol time was 10 minutes slower than London.
    And at Penzance station in Cornwall, 24 minutes behind London Paddington time.

    Nothing really changes. 

    Trains are still 24 minutes late arriving at Penzance  :D
    You could say Penzance was a few years behind London, the lucky buggers.
  • Love the way we always discuss moving permanently onto GMT+1, surely GMT is our historical benchmark?
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