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Equinox

Stig
Posts: 29,027
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
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.
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Comments
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Leave the house at 10 to 6 every morning and it definitely seems lighter that end of the day.1
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thought this was about the Leicester Square nightclub back in the day2
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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.2
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Happy Equinox everyone! Looking forward to all those long dark nights (not).4
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Stig said:Happy Equinox everyone! Looking forward to all those long dark nights (not).1
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golfaddick said:Stig said:Happy Equinox everyone! Looking forward to all those long dark nights (not).4
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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.1
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jimmymelrose 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.9
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MrLargo said:jimmymelrose 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.5
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DaveMehmet said:MrLargo said:jimmymelrose 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.
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jimmymelrose 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.
And it's dark when they come home again.
As someone said, pointless.2 -
It's nothing to do with school kids, never has been. Nothing to do with farmers either, although that myth persists. It was originally put in place as a way to conserve energy during war efforts.
Utterly pointless anachronism now, should have been abolished years ago.6 -
Pretty sure we didn't even have standard time in the UK until trains and stuff2
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McBobbin said:Pretty sure we didn't even have standard time in the UK until trains and stuff2
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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 😄.
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jimmymelrose 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.0
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CaptainRobbo said:McBobbin said:Pretty sure we didn't even have standard time in the UK until trains and stuff
Nothing really changes.
Trains are still 24 minutes late arriving at Penzance0 -
Oggy Red said:CaptainRobbo said:McBobbin said:Pretty sure we didn't even have standard time in the UK until trains and stuff
Nothing really changes.
Trains are still 24 minutes late arriving at Penzance0 -
Love the way we always discuss moving permanently onto GMT+1, surely GMT is our historical benchmark?1