(ORDO NEWS) — In much of the world, the length of day and night varies throughout the year. But there is a place where stability reigns in this regard. Where is it located?
Short winter daylight hours are sometimes depressing. I would like to see the sun longer. Fortunately, there is a place in the world where daylight is stable throughout the year. Where is it located?
Our planet, as you know, rotates around its axis, which is why we have a change of day and night. But the axis of rotation of our planet is at an angle to the plane of the ecliptic – the plane in which the Earth rotates. Because of this tilt, we have a change of seasons, as well as a seasonal change in the length of daylight hours.
The easiest way to demonstrate this is with an illustrative example. If you look at the picture below, you can see that the Sun illuminates the globe differently in winter and summer.
In particular, one of the poles is completely covered with shadow in one of the seasons. If the pole is in the shade, there is a polar night – the duration of daylight during this period is zero – and if it is constantly lit, then the polar day comes and this duration will be equal to 24 hours.
Now consider a point that lies between the equator and the pole. For convenience, consider a point on the parallel that is above the equator.
Let’s take a closer look at it in winter and summer. It can be seen that in winter the Sun illuminates a much smaller part of the area over which our point moves during the day. Most of the parallel on which it is located is covered with a shadow.
During this period, the duration of the night increases, and the day decreases. In summer, everything happens exactly the opposite.
But there is a place on our planet where the longitude of day and night is always the same. If you look closely at the figure, you can easily notice it – this is the equator. It is always half illuminated by the Sun, and the other half is in the shade.
The length of the day there is approximately 12 hours 7 minutes and practically does not change throughout the seasons. Why exactly 7 minutes and not just 12 hours?
The fact is that the Sun for observers from the Earth has quite specific dimensions. It begins to dawn when the star is just rising, but the center of the Sun does not appear immediately, but after about 7 minutes – then the day begins.
All this means that there is only one season at the equator – eternal summer. So if you don’t want to buy a bunch of outfits for winter, summer, fall and spring, you know where to move.
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