Re: Being careful with directions

["Van E. Neie" <ven@PHYSICS.PURDUE.EDU>]

> This is an appropriate topic today, since today marks the
> end of the Sun's residence in positive declinations, our
> spring and summer. We can be quite smug in realizing that
> our autumn and winter will be shorter than spring and summer
> by a significant amount.
>
> Anyone want to guess by how much? Has this fact ever been
> pointed out to you before?
>
> Leigh
Is this a trick question?  I had always assumed it was because the Earth is
in an elliptical orbit about the Sun, with the periapsis being around the
time of winter in the Northern Hemisphere.    But then, there may be some
other reason I haven't thought of (or ever knew in the first place).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Van E. Neie                                      ven@physics.purdue.edu
Dept of Physics                                 PH:  (765) 494-5511
Purdue University                          FAX: (765) 494-0706
1396 PHYS Bldg
W. Lafayette, IN 47907-1396

"There ain't no rules around here!  We're trying to accomplish something!"
                       --Thomas Alva Edison