Sciencey Stuff ~ Equinox Comparison

~ King Ben's Grandma

It’s been such a long time since I’ve done a regular post, I didn’t know how to begin. Well, I’ve begun, haven’t I? Let’s continue…

March 20, 2021 was the Vernal or Spring Equinox. The day when at the equator there are exactly twelve hours of daylight and twelve hours of darkness. It’s also the first day of Spring.

After tracking the sunset from Summer Solstice (the longest day), through the Autumnal Equinox, to Winter Solstice (the shortest day), I wanted to see if the equinoxes matched up. Theoretically, they should.

I was looking at the cool site I found a while back that has sunset/sunrise times, an interactive map of the stars and planets, and lots of other cool stuff. You just put in your city and it gives everything from that latitude and longitude. Anyway, I wanted to know when San Diego County area was going to have the most equal day. It wasn’t March 20th.

It was actually March 16th. I checked the info for last September and our closest to equal day wasn’t the 22nd, it was the 26th.

So I had a dilemma… should I go with the Official dates, or the actual dates? Would four days make that much of a difference? My Sciencey Stuff wasn’t super scientific, it was mostly just for fun, and to satisfy my curiosity.

Of course I had sunset pictures for the alternate dates. I have sunset pictures of the entire year. I could make a book called A Year Of The Kootie: 365 Days of the Pandemic in Sunsets… Hey! That’s an idea! Maybe I should put one of those copywrite thingies by it. Oh well… my keyboard doesn’t have one.

Anyway, I decided to go with the Official date, since those were the dates I used when I did the big comparison at Winter Solstice. Unfortunately, I was Driving Miss Daisy when the Sun went behind the western hills on the 20th, so I have to use the 19th. I know… not very scientific.

I like that a pair of Parrots were in the shot from March 19, 2021. The pictures are at different magnifications, using different phones, and possibly standing a door’s width different.

My unscientific, Sciencey Stuff Person findings are that the Sun DOES set at the same place on the equinoxes.

Don’t you feel smarter now?

41 thoughts on “Sciencey Stuff ~ Equinox Comparison”

    1. Hey!! Good to see you! I still can’t leave comments on your posts, though I keep trying! You’re gonna have to let the “Happiness Engineers” at WordPress know I’m not a spam account, if you want me to be able to comment on your posts.

      Anyway… Happy very belated Birthday! I thought of you on our shared day!
      Also, I am LOVING all the things you’ve been posting!!

      How are you feeling? How are all your girls? And the Missus? Everyone staying healthy?

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      1. Oh, you lovely lady. Thank you for this lovely message. Happy belated to you as well. Hope you are doing well. I have completed two new books (one still in the process of final touches) but they are the best stuff that I have written. Missus and daughters are all doing fine even considering the new Nazis that are running our country. Hope you are all doing very well.

        Mike

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        1. Everyone is doing well. Older Daughter got her vaccine shots in December & January. She’s a nurse and was working a COVID unit at the time, so she was part of the first group. Younger daughter was unemployed for a while, but she’s working now and doing good. Ben was home from March til late September 2020. School resumed for 2 days a week until Winter Break, but some staff members got COVID so shut down again until late February, then back to 2 days. Next week is Spring Break, then April 5th he starts 5 days a week, and I’m beyond thrilled!! Teachers started being able to get vaccinated on March 1st, so they all should have at least the first jab by April 5.
          No idea when the general public will be able to get it.

          I’ve missed chatting with you too! My comments just won’t show on your posts. I’m guess they’re sent to your “spam” folder. And you don’t have a “contact” page for email either. I’m glad you decided to comment on my post so I could tell you.

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          1. Good stuff. It’s amazing how much it adds to my general sense of well being. I have written two books since my near-death accident and I think they both rock, one is called Lovely, Dark and Deep and the other is The Long Sleep of Covid. Both are Grimm tales with a difference. I would like you to sample them although the second is still experimenting with endings.

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  2. Gosh, that’s more complicated that I realised. Let the knowledge fall like the spring rains 🙂 For Me, Spring starts when my Daffodils are out. Spring is my favourite time of year, but it seems to be a fleeting period with some days feeling definitely springlike but others still feeling like Winter is clinging on and occasionally a day that promises Summer around the corner. Your Post has got me going 🙂

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    1. I haven’t seen any daffodils around here. I don’t know if we can grow them in SoCal 🤔 I’ve enjoyed seeing pictures of them though!
      When the daughters were growing up we had jasmine and honeysuckle growing up the front porch support posts. I knew it was Spring when they bloomed. I miss that beautiful smell!

      The weather has been unseasonably cold this year. Winter is definitely hanging on. It’s starting to get more Springlike. I just hope it doesn’t jump straight to Summer and 90+ F (33+ C)🥵🤞

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      1. My garden is full of Daffodils at the moment. I will take a picture and post it to show you 🙂 I love honeysuckle but here in the UK its a summer flowering plant. Funny isn’t it. I hope you get a proper Spring. We had a year when it was still around 10 degrees at the beginning of May and by the end of May was up to 30 degrees C. Temperatures around 20 degrees C is my preference. 🙂

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  4. Maybe it’s time to build your own Stonehenge. Of course, you need to factor in seismic activity when using landmarks for comparison. Houses must move around 10 – 15 feet a year out there in California. 🙂

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        1. I’ve tried to understand the appeal of the Orange Idjit, all I come up with is “permission to hate everyone except WASPy people”. I can sorta understand changing political views, but the Cult Of Orange seems to have very little to do with policy.

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          1. Trump has taken conservative politics and wrapped it in so much hate that I have zero tolerance for it. I’ve dropped more than a few high school and college friends over the past few years.

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    1. I would LOVE your night sky when it’s clear. And that fog was pretty cool. I don’t know that I’d survive a Yorkshire winter. I start whining when it gets below 60°F (15°C) during the day. I’m not hearty enough for your Northern climate.

      It would be cool to track sunset between the Solstices so far north though. If the cloud cover would allow😉💌💌💌

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  8. I’m feeling rather dumb because I missed the equinox. For some reason I had it in my head that it was on the 23rd, and yesterday I belatedly realised that it had already been the day before. Oops. What I have noticed, though, is that equal day and night lengths stay equal for a few days, they don’t actually change that fast. This in not sciencey but just looking at sunrise and sunset times in a calendar.
    It’s good to see you posting, I just can’t bring myself to go back to blogging. I sometimes think about it and then I think nah…

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    1. You’re right, they don’t change a lot, especially around the solstices. The site I linked shows a two minute daily gain or loss around the equinoxes. That’s going to vary depending on your latitude, I would think.
      I miss your posts, but if you don’t want to blog, you shouldn’t. I’m glad you drop in to say hello 👋💌

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      1. I’ve been vaguely thinking about a post for 3 weeks, even took a picture for it, but when it comes to actually writing it, I just never feel like it. And since blogging is not meant to be a chore, I just don’t do it! I’ll just comment on yours instead.

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  9. I’m so impressed you kept your data collection going and took all those photographs. It’s fascinating and really cool to be able to confirm the sun sets in the same place on the equinoxes.

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    1. Thanks! I got pretty excited seeing that it was the same. I’ve learned a lot with my Project. I’ve lived in this house almost 11 years and never really paid attention to the movement. It’s interesting how far it is between the solstices.
      The whole thing makes me think of shamans of ancient tribes and how they probably did similar projects.🌞💐💕

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  10. I definitely think you should copyright that book title. It actually sounds like something someone would put together, a lovely art book to leave out on the coffee table… 😉

    If you are really interested in creating some kind of book or record of the photos, you might want to take a peek at the Shutterfly site. Partner has used them several times for calendars and booklets and whatnots, and he’s been satisfied with the results…

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  12. Sandham was an escape. It was a sanctuary for confused souls. Clive was confused. His father had run off with the nurse. His mother and sister had deserted him. All the other boys in the school had disappeared – apart from Demonic, whose real name was Dominic, but he was a demon after all.

    There were others. The dark figure who sat on the end of the bed when he woke, but disappeared before he could rub the grit from his eyes, Bloody Mary, a false creation belonging to two Year 7 boys. And there was echo, who refused to be capitalised. Apart from the goshawk and the library, and the drumming, there was little else. Oh, and there was the umber, a sort of colour that rested on the edges of sleep. And the definitions.

    Life was hard to define when you were an autistic boy who was trapped in lockdown – it wasn’t only countries that closed down. Mike Evans explores the uncertain world of autism as it is experienced through the eyes of a teenage boy who is trapped in his residential school with only words to help him out.

    Meanings were important yet some could not be trusted.

    Mike

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  13. The comments I leave on your posts are still not showing. I think WordPress is sending them to your “spam” folder.

    I’ve been reading what you’ve been posting and I’m loving the story!! This one and your other one… the hospital one.

    Are either of the books available yet?
    And the AWOL prequel, Eve’s story is looking great too!

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  14. Holy Jiminy Cricket, that’s a huge spread! Way off from the 180 degrees (considering a year a full circle), even when we consider those extra 5.25 days each year 😱

    That’s so cool that you thought to do that! Even in all my Aspie-ness and curiosity I never even considered actually testing the theory like you did. I always accepted it as gospel, which I’m being taught over and over again not to do lol 😂

    Fun stuff! ☮️🌈💞🙌💗👍💖👏🥰🍀🌴🌠🎆🏆🥳🧠💃🌠🌷🌸🌟✨💌🎊🎉💟☮️☯️

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    1. It was after lockdown in March 2020, I was really noticing the sky and sunset more. Then I noticed that the Sun was dipping below the horizon at different places.🤔 I was already taking too many pictures, so I thought I’d give my “obsession” a “legitimate purpose”😂😂
      I was only going to track between the Solstice, but then I was curious about the equinoxes🤔🤷🏼‍♀️ Plus, the sunsets were absolutely awe-inspiring so many nights. I don’t know if I wasn’t paying attention before, or if things changed, but WOW!!!
      I’m like a total Astronomical Sciencey Stuff person now🤓😆🤣🤗🥰💕❤✨🪐🌙🌠

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