However, this is true for everybody who lives on the equator! On a regular meridian near the equator, the sun should rise at 6:00 a.m. and set at 6:00 p.m., but it rises at 6:03 a.m. in July, a summer month, and rises late at 6:11 a.m. in February, a winter month. The reason is simple: You are two minutes early because of the rotation of the earth!
The equator is a great circle on Earth that divides the globe into two equal parts, each of which revolves about its axis once per day. At the equator, there is no north or south; instead, all points on the equator are at the same distance from the center of the earth. For this reason, the term "equatorial" means "equal to the equator."
The earth's axis is not exactly perpendicular to its surface, but is tilted by an angle called the latitude of the location on the earth's surface. Longitude is measured along a line from pole to pole, so the farther a location is from the poles, the more west it is from Greenwich, England, where longitude is zero degrees. Locations nearer the poles are further east than Greenwich.
As the earth rotates daily, one quarter of its circumference is covered by the morning sun and another quarter by the evening sun.
At the poles, the sun circles above or below the horizon in circles. The sun rises and sets at around 45 degrees to the horizon in 45 degrees latitude on equinoxes. That translates to 10.6 degrees up and 10.6 degrees sideways each hour. This is not true around midday. At noon the sun is directly overhead.
This depends on the season and where you are on Earth. In the northern hemisphere the sun reaches its highest point in the sky during the summer months. It starts out low in the sky in January and doesn't get any higher than 99 percent of its annual value until late July or early August when it begins to drop again for the rest of the year. In the southern hemisphere the sun reaches its highest point in the sky in March and doesn't drop below that peak until November/December.
In the northern hemisphere the sun reaches its lowest point in the sky in September and doesn't rise above the horizon until May/June. In the southern hemisphere the sun reaches its lowest point in the sky in February and doesn't rise above the horizon until October/November.
A solar term is one day on Mars.
The Midnight Sun That imaginary line denotes the latitude at which the sun remains above the horizon for a complete 24 hours during the summer solstice (June 20 or 21) and below the horizon for a full 24 hours during the winter solstice (December 20 or 21). (December 21 or 22). The sun rises straight up from the horizon and sets straight down to it at the equator. But at the poles, where the earth is tilted away from the sun, day and night are reversed.
At the center of Earth is the North Pole, where there is no north nor south. Here, the sun is always directly over the center of the earth during the summer months and always beneath the surface of the earth during the winter months.
The South Pole is where all weather maps show a huge area of low pressure called the Antarctic Polar Vortex. This is because it is so cold that air is trapped under this region causing heavy snowfall and high winds.
These are the only two places on Earth where you can find true midnight sun. Elsewhere, the sun will be up one minute and gone the next.
Sun Facts in General The sun rises and sets almost 90 degrees from the horizon at the equator. On equinoxes, the sun rises and sets at roughly 45 degrees to the horizon at 45 degrees latitude.
The reason the sun appears to rise at a lower angle near the horizon is because of perspective. Objects that are far away look smaller than those that are close by. So if you were standing on the moon, the first sunrise would be just a tiny bit before the earth's surface appeared to rise out of the lunar surface.
At higher latitudes, the sun takes longer to reach its highest point in the sky each day. And at lower latitudes, it reaches its highest point in the sky each day more quickly. The amount of time it takes for the sun to rise at 68 degrees north latitude is about an hour less than at 40 degrees north latitude.
At 45 degrees south latitude, the sun rises due west around 10:30 a.m. and sets due west around 6:30 p.m. At 8 degrees north latitude, it takes about an hour longer to rise and set.
The apparent rising and setting of the sun is not visible from within a closed room, but only people living at these locations could see this happen.
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