Hurrah! The Winter Solstice is nigh.

[itma]

I enjoy the winter and the other seasons.
How I would hate to live somewhere equatorial;have the shutters come down and up at 6 O'Clock and have no seasons bar rain and no rain.

Pretty constant warmth is nowhere near as bad as it sounds!

 

[peter genders]

daffs also just showing through soil.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Or is it crocii ?

My crocuses your croci?

Pretty constant warmth is nowhere near as bad as it sounds!

For a while, perhaps.

 

[Hivemaker.]

For a while, perhaps.

I would love it if it were 24c, night and day, sixteen hours of daylight, every day of the year, with three days of rain, once a month... not too much to ask for is it.

And no gale force winds.

 

[FreeFall]

I would love it if it were 24c, night and day, sixteen hours of daylight, every day of the year, with three days of rain, once a month... not too much to ask for is it.

And no gale force winds.

Now we're talking! Same here...

 

[REDWOOD]

I would love it if it were 24c, night and day, sixteen hours of daylight, every day of the year, with three days of rain, once a month... not too much to ask for is it.

And no gale force winds.

I quite like the rain in the summer after a long dry spell it gets the salmon running

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I would love it if it were 24c, night and day, sixteen hours of daylight, every day of the year, with three days of rain, once a month... not too much to ask for is it.

And no gale force winds.

I'll let you know if it's any good after my Africa stint

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

? explain... The day or the two days on either side of solstice are the two shortest days of the year. So I dont understand the above statement. How can the "the day the evenings start drawing out" be 13 Dec?

Derek

The Earth's orbit is an ellipse, not a circle. We are slightly closer to the sun, and moving faster, in (northern) winter than in summer. So relative to an average, the sun is moving eastwards at this time of the year, and drifts westward in the rest of it. The difference is called the equation of time and gets out to (from memory) about 11 minutes. As it moves east relative to the "clock", it sets slightly later every day and this overcomes the now-tiny day shortening from 13th onwards so the sun sets later. but of course it adds to the later sunrise in the morning. Sorry for the astronavigation lesson, but I crave the light...

 

[MuswellMetro]

We are also told that the sun is overhead at Midday GMT, but is varies and depending on the earth's wobble (shape) and the suns orbit . It moves by up to 15 minutes from 11:45 to 12:15

They don't tell you the truth because it is too complicated

Today the sun was overhead at 11:59 but on my birthday in February it is overhead at 12:14, this discrepancy between solar Noon and and GMT Watchtime noon is what causes the problem with the sunset, sunrise and the discrepancy varies with latitude because the earth is a spheroid not a globe. The sun orbit is a oval but the sun is not central and both the orbit and suns position also varies with time not by a year but 100,000

 

[user 6228]

The Earth's orbit is an ellipse, not a circle. We are slightly closer to the sun, and moving faster, in (northern) winter than in summer. So relative to an average, the sun is moving eastwards at this time of the year, and drifts westward in the rest of it. The difference is called the equation of time and gets out to (from memory) about 11 minutes. As it moves east relative to the "clock", it sets slightly later every day and this overcomes the now-tiny day shortening from 13th onwards so the sun sets later. but of course it adds to the later sunrise in the morning. Sorry for the astronavigation lesson, but I crave the light...

The latest sunrise is around jan 1st while the earliest sunset is around dec 13th. But the short day length is around dec 21st. Did astronav a few years ago so i checked my memory with an almanac.

 

[MuswellMetro]

The latest sunrise is around jan 1st while the earliest sunset is around dec 13th. But the short day length is around dec 21st. Did astronav a few years ago so i checked my memory with an almanac.

RYA Yachtmaster Ocean but never taken a boat past the Scilly isles

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

The latest sunrise is around jan 1st while the earliest sunset is around dec 13th. But the short day length is around dec 21st. Did astronav a few years ago so i checked my memory with an almanac.

 

[user 6228]

RYA Yachtmaster Ocean but never taken a boat past the Scilly isles

I took it stage further did the trips and the observations but never bothered with the final interview. I used a scientific calculator method for the exam and at sea. The sextant i have is an old vernier that was bought second hand by mother for her brother in 1945. It must be late victorian or edwardian its last cal ticket is 1922. Its still able to get a fix within 3 miles. I found doing the studying fun i even went as far as proving the formulae i was using with spherical trigonometry.

 

[BeeJayBee]

... the leaves have only hit the floor, we aren't even into the new year yet and you are making out that spring has sprung!!

Amazing to see there are still some leaves on some of the oak trees round here.

Or is it crocii ?

No!

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

I took it stage further did the trips and the observations but never bothered with the final interview. I used a scientific calculator method for the exam and at sea. The sextant i have is an old vernier that was bought second hand by mother for her brother in 1945. It must be late victorian or edwardian its last cal ticket is 1922. Its still able to get a fix within 3 miles. I found doing the studying fun i even went as far as proving the formulae i was using with spherical trigonometry.

Sorry to drift but I love it; dropping out bits of modern kit and still knowing where you are. First the GPS, then the calculator (all Haversines now). Finally working on the chronometer, by (one day) learning the lunar distance method that narrowly lost out to the chronometer for the longitude prize. ONe of the reasons I am fascinated by bees, their navigation.

 

[user 6228]

Sorry to drift but I love it; dropping out bits of modern kit and still knowing where you are. First the GPS, then the calculator (all Haversines now). Finally working on the chronometer, by (one day) learning the lunar distance method that narrowly lost out to the chronometer for the longitude prize. ONe of the reasons I am fascinated by bees, their navigation.

If the bees use azimuth for navigation, do they use the altitude to tell the time of year?

AMM would need this more as they can't reliably tell day length with maritime weather at this time of year, and since their brood year starts in early February.

 

[Amari]

Bees more active today (T. 8C, sunny) than I've seen them over the last month. No pollen.
Obviously rejoicing in keeping with OP.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

RYA Yachtmaster Ocean but never taken a boat past the Scilly isles

Sorry to drift but I love it;

Hope you allow for that in your DR calculations.
We hardly ever used the sextant, or pelorus/azimuths near the coast - the speed we travel at it was a bit frantic. Decca,Loranc and GPS or just look out the window to see where we are!
Apart from West of 10° W when we upset the Irish, pootling around the top end of the Bay of Biscay, North of Muckle Flugga towards the Faroes then the French, Dutch and sometimes German coast we never really went that far

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Bees more active today (T. 8C, sunny) than I've seen them over the last month. No pollen.
Obviously rejoicing in keeping with OP.

Exactly: I had a cuouple of scouts out today as well. No wholesale flying.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Hope you allow for that in your DR calculations.

Hahaha. Famously, Bernard Moitessier forgot, giving him his first shipwreck.\

PS: Sunset now 5 mins later: I reckon you can see it.