Entries filed under 'sunrise'

Have You Noticed Sunset Times Rarely Change Lately? What's Up with Sundown?

How much daylight will your patch of the planet receive on Thursday, Dec. 22, the date of the 2011 winter solstice? And while no day is shorter than Thursday, why is it that sunset times have hardly budged since early December? First, here's how much time the sun will spend above the horizon on Thursday in 25 randomly selected cities where REI operates stores:  City Daylight on Dec. 22 Houston     10h 14m 02s Austin, Tex.     10h 11m 33s Tucson     10h 02m 16s Chula Vista, Calif.     10h 00m ...

Posted by T.D. Wood on December 22, 2011 1:25 PM & Tagged Solstice, solar noon, sunrise and sunset | permalink | Comments



Two Spectacular Surprises in the Sky

It's been a good week for gazing upwards. Earlier this week, a "coronal mass ejection" on the sun created an epic geomagnetic storm that caused an unusually widespread outbreak of Northern Lights. This particular aurora borealis appeared in skies over much of North America, even in relatively southerly latitudes. Check out this skywatcher's video from Michigan for a sampling (don't miss the amazing action around the 0:17 mark). Then, this morning here in the Seattle area, we were treated to a ...

Posted by Steve T on October 31, 2011 5:32 PM & Tagged Mount Rainier, aurora borealis, northern lights and sunrise | permalink | Comments