"Jim Carlock" wrote in news:svQZc.7263$Of3.7205
@tornado.tampabay.rr.com:

Boy, I'm way off in thinking that the sun travels along the
equator and the position of the earth is what is changing.
I've got to rethink everything and start reading more stuff on
this topic. It's been ages since I've looked into this...
Well here goes...

For some reason I was under the impression that the
earth rotated on an axis and that as the earth rotated
around the sun, that the equator represented the closest
part of the earth to the sun. This means that North Pole
represents one point of the axis and the South Pole
represents the the other point of the axis. The axis does
not noticeably change, but I'm thinking that it does
change and would be noticeable if you could live 1000
or maybe 10,000 years.

The earth does rotate on an axis, and the axis does wobble a bit (I think
the wobble is called precession or procession or something like that). The
band perpendicular to the axis of rotation and intersecting the earth's
center is the equator. Meanwhile the earth is orbiting the sun. The
orbital plane is tilted something like 23.5 degrees from the plane of the
equator or rotational plane. The orbital plane is also known as the plane
of the ecliptic.

Okay, my question is this... if you live on the equator,
are the days and nights equal every day of the year?
http://puuoo.submm.caltech.edu/outre...ay/sunrise.htm

I don't think this strictly true, athougth I think day and night could very
close in duration at the equator. Atmospheric effects aside, for the sake
of argument say a day is exactly 24 hours. This means the earth makes a
360 degree rotation in 24 hours. However, at same time, the earth is
moving in an elliptical orbit that isn't parallel to the plane of rotation.

If the sun is always directly above the equator, and the
equator represents the closest portion of the earth to the
sun, how does the sun cross the equator? You lost me
with your statement. I think you meant to say something
else.

I don't think the first two are true, but I'm too tired to think about it.
The sun crosses the equator because the plane of the eclipitic is not
parallel to the earth's rotational plane.

http://www.equinox-and-solstice.com/..._solstice.html

The link above indicates that the longest day of the year falls
on or about June 22 (at least for the northern hemisphere). It
should be December 22 for the southern hemisphere. So with
Dec 22 being the longest day for the southern hemisphere and
Dec 22 being the shortest day for the northern hemisphere...
does any of this matter on the equator, being that on the
equator, you'd get 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night
each and every day of the year, because you'd be on the
closest spot on earth to the sun, each and every day of the
year, not taking mountains and depressions into consideration.

You get your equinoxes when the plane of the ecliptic intersects the
rotational plane, i.e. when the difference is 0 degrees. At the points
where the earth is at +/- 23.5 degrees you get your solistices.

Being that the earth rotates on an axis, the autumnal equinox
I think is going to vary slightly for every every position away
from the equator? I think that's the lattitude.

There is a great link here that talks about how the distance of
the earth from the sun never goes past 3% or 4% and states
that the earth is more circular in orbit than elliptical. I used to

At the "astronomical" distances involved, saying the orbit is nearly
circular is only useful for lay people with nothing to quibble about. At
any rate if you are talking about the 'closest point', and you're saying
the orbit is circular, then all points are relatively equidistant.

think that the distance from the sun is what caused seasons
when I was a kid. That's not true. The link below indicates
that the earth is farthest from the sun on or about July 4th.
Very interesting coincidence!
http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/news/20....asp?list17366

or they fudged the data just so they could say that. Or the Continental
Congress decided "man it's too hot for this, let's declare independence and
get out of here." Conspiratorically, it makes sense, Ben Franklin and TJ
more likely than not knowing about such things picked the day the earth was
farthest away to declare being farthest away from England, i.e.
independent.

Thanks for the comment, I think I know what you're trying
to say, but you are just not saying it correctly. ;-)