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Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Astronomy From Now On, the Days Get Brighter

Posted by Sarah Mirk on Wed, Dec 21, 2011 at 12:44 PM

Just a reminder that today is the solstice, which means the daylight now grows day by day as our collective despair shrinks.

I woke up in time to see the sunrise from Mount Tabor and want to confirm that there were, actually, a few minutes of sunlight in Portland today before the fog immediately rolled in destroyed all hope.

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Comments (16) RSS

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1
DEAR SMIRK, I MISS THE DAYS WHEN YOU WOULDN'T DO BASIC FACT-CHECKING. BUT YOU SEEM TO HAVE DONE IT AGAIN! THE GODDAMNED SOLSTICE IS TOMORROW. NOT TODAY. GET YOUR SHIT ON LOCK-DOWN AND QUIT LYING TO PEOPLE ABOUT BASIC FACTS OF COSMOLOGY.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solstice
http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/decemb…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/dec…
Posted by Graham on December 21, 2011 at 1:02 PM · Report
2
GRAHAM: this year's solstice is at 5.30 am GMT on Dec 22, which is 9:30 pm PST on Dec 21. Unless you are secretly British, you owe Smirk an apology.
Posted by dmitrir on December 21, 2011 at 1:14 PM · Report
3
Agreed. Solstice in PST happens at 9:30 tonight. (Also ... pssst ... Graham ... WHEN YOU TYPE WITH YOUR GODAMNED CAPS LOCK KEY ON it makes you sound like an asshole).

Posted by allenink on December 21, 2011 at 1:25 PM · Report
4
@DMITRIR: BUT NOT ON THE EAST COAST. FUCKING CLOCKS, HOW DO THEY WORK? WHATEVER. I'LL NEVER-EVER APOLOGIZE TO SMIRK.

@ALLENINK: MY KEYBOARD IS BROKEN AND I CANNOT DO OTHERWISE.
Posted by Graham on December 21, 2011 at 1:29 PM · Report
5
The weird thing is that, although the sun starts setting later after the solstice, it also starts rising later for a while:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astr…

Does anyone know why that is?
Posted by dmitrir on December 21, 2011 at 1:32 PM · Report
6
God.
Posted by Rusty! on December 21, 2011 at 1:35 PM · Report
7
FUCK THE EAST COAST, THIS IS PORTLAND! Besides, you provided a link to The Guardian. Face it, Graham, you have outed yourself as secretly British.
Posted by dmitrir on December 21, 2011 at 1:38 PM · Report
8
Solstices, how do they work?
Posted by Fruit Cup on December 21, 2011 at 1:53 PM · Report
9
Graham is actually Matt Davis!
Posted by cat & beard on December 21, 2011 at 1:55 PM · Report
10
This moving around of the sunrise and sunset times was a popular topic last year in my office and was put right by the artist known as "billbot" (and source of my name).

His short email on the subject from about a year ago:
"Yeah, it is because of the 'Equation of Time' which is a combination of the sun declination (how far above/below the equator it is) and where we are in our elliptical orbit around the sun.

The Naval Observatory website explains all this in some detail at
http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astronomical…"
Posted by catbot on December 21, 2011 at 2:04 PM · Report
11
RE: The Equation of Time.

I refuse to believe that something that sounds like an episode of Doctor Who explains why the sun rises later for a few days after the solstice.
Posted by dmitrir on December 21, 2011 at 2:18 PM · Report
12
Does this mean we get an extra hour of drinking time?
Posted by Baron von Turdwell on December 21, 2011 at 2:59 PM · Report
13
Down with collective despair!
Posted by Tommy on December 21, 2011 at 3:33 PM · Report
14
Graham likes spotted dick.
Posted by eric cantona on December 21, 2011 at 4:30 PM · Report
15
I tried the egg thing. Didn't work.
Posted by El Stunto on December 21, 2011 at 10:16 PM · Report
16
@ 14 his name is Graham....i think its been right in front of us all along
Posted by The Showstopper on December 22, 2011 at 11:17 AM · Report

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