Thanks... I see where my line of thinking was slightly off.

I will still argue that the sun does not move over the equator.
:-)

I can see where my line of thinking was wrong about the
equator being the closest point. I just can't pinpoint or explain
it right at the moment. I'm currently not seeing the equator as
being a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation.

I do see the northern hemisphere getting closer to the sun
during the summer, thus producing summer in June/July/Aug.

I see the southern hemisphere getting closer to the sun
during our winter months.

So I'm imagining the earth's spin now, on a 23 degree axis...
but I ask myself 23 degrees from what, and I'm I start to
form a plane that involves the earths yearly revolving.
And the 23 degrees must be in relation to that plane, and
simplifying it to exclude minor nuisances where the earth
wobbles off of that plane. I'm not sure that this is correct,
but it's what I'm working off of right at the moment...

But this is leading along the lines that direct east is visible
when you are on the equator and you watch the sun start
to rise. That would be east. West being the point at which
the sun sets on the equator. Anywhere else in the northern
or southern hemispheres, the direction of rising and setting
is not directly east, but would be southeasterly if it's summer
and you're in the northern hemisphere and then northeasterly
in the winter for the same location... My imagination starts
to fail... but I think that's more proper than saying that the
sun moves over the equator... providing it's correct.

It's not the sun that is moving over the equator, it's the plane
of the equator, which is created by the spin of the earth that
is shifting in relation to the sun... ???

Now moving along in this line of thinking... there are seasons
when you are in the northern hemisphere and there are seasons
when you are in the southern hemisphere... but if you are on
the equator, there are no seasons. :-) I think that is correct.
Taking out all the extraneous variables, it would be correct to
state that days are equal in length to the nights on the equator
at any given instant of the year. And I'm drawing the equator
in this manner. Salty Thumb explained the equator as being
perpendicular to the axis that the earth rotates upon. I'm
having problems seeing it in this fashion and it's easier for me
to view it by thinking of it in relation to the lengths of day and
night being equal. And while there is a vernal equinox and
an autumnal equinox where the length of the day is the same
as the length of the night (and this only happens if you are
NOT on the equator), those represent the exceptions to the
rule about the equator. Because for two days of the year,
there is that exception to the rule about the equators position.
So if you change the rule to read that the equator is drawn
if the previous day was equal in length to the previous night's
duration, there you will get a more substantial equation for
drawing the equator. I could be wrong but my beautiful
world will be destroyed if I am gulp.

And I keep asking myself what is the signifigance of the
length of the days being equal to length of the nights all
year long... and what initially jumps into my head is that
the earth is closest to the sun at that point, and a few
things run through my head... where I throw that idea
out and several other ideas run through my head... along
the lines that if that position on the earth is closest to the
sun at let's say 12o'clock high noon at that position on
the earth... this could account for the longer days in the
northern hemisphere. It's throwing my head through
some loops though... LOL

I've thought too much on it and I have to get some other
stuff done... it's been a pleasure thinking about it and I've
got a much better grasp on why the sun is sinking south.

Thanks to everyone! And I will argue with Scott (et al)
that the sun is not the thing moving that is causing the sun
to sink south. ;-) I can see where it can be thought of as
such in an abstract kind of way, and I now know where
my a couple of my ideas were a little off... and perhaps
some of them still are... I have to stop thinking about
for now though. g

--
Jim Carlock
Post replies to the newsgroup.


"Scott Anderson" wrote:
Yes, days and nights are always the same (almost) on the equator. But
the sun is not always directly overhead on the equator. It's only
directly overhead on the spring and autumn equinoxes. Any other time
it appears to be swinging north and south between the tropics.

Technically, the earth and sun really aren't tilting north and south
each year. The earth rotates at an angle relative to the plane of it's
orbit. The poles don't rotate around the sun, rather they stay pointed
in the same direction, no matter where the earth is in it's orbit. In
June, the north pole is pointed a little bit towards the sun and it's
the northern hemisphere that gets longer days. In December, the Earth
has gone 180 degrees around it's orbit, but because the poles don't
rotate, they are still pointed in the same direction and now the south
pole is pointed towards the sun and it's the southern hemisphere that
gets longer days. From the point of view of an observer on the earth,
this causes the path of the sun to swing north and south over the
course of the year as the planet swings around it's orbit. There's an
illustration of this he

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/fsd/astro/season.htm

And an explanation he

http://www.synapses.co.uk/astro/sunpath.html



On Fri, 03 Sep 2004 02:18:00 GMT, "Jim Carlock"
wrote:

....

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

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.

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.

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
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

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