Have you ever wonder how seasons change?

-

Have you ever wonder how seasons change?

We are too busy in our daily routine that we never wonder how seasons get change. Here is a short explanation of how earthlings experience the season change throughout the year.

We can’t really feel that the Earth is orbiting the Sun (even though the Earth is traveling 30 km/s), and these days not many people take notice of the Earth’s orbital position.  We primarily notice the passing of a year by the cycle of the seasons.

So what is the cause of the seasons?

Clearly, the seasons have something to do with the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. Yet many people are confused about why the Earth has seasons.

Why do seasons occur?

“The seasons are caused by the changing distance between the Earth and the Sun, and it is warmer in summer because the Earth is closer to the Sun at summer time.”

 This is a very common response and it is true that the Earth-Sun distance does change. As we just saw, the Earth’s distance from the Sun varies by about 3% during its orbit. So could summer occur when the Earth is closest to the Sun?
 NO!

Earth is farthest from the sun on its orbit when it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere.


The Earth is closest to the Sun at its Perihelion about 2 weeks after the December Solstice and farthest from the Sun at its Aphelion about 2 weeks after the June Solstice.





 Another, problem with this idea is that when it’s summer in the northern hemisphere, its winter in the southern hemisphere, and vice versa. So if this were the correct answer, it would be the same season in both hemispheres at the same time which is not the case.




So how we experience a change in seasons?

The direction of the rotational axis stays (nearly) fixed in space while the Earth orbits the Sun and the hemisphere that seems to “lean into” the Sun experiences summer, while the hemisphere that “leans away” from the Sun experiences winter.

Thus the tilt of the Earth’s rotation axis naturally explains why the seasons are opposite in the northern and southern hemispheres
In December, when the southern hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun, the southern part of the Earth receives more sunlight and experiences long summer days. At the same time, the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun and receives less sunlight, experiencing short winter days.

What if you are living at the Equator?


If you live near the Equator, there is not much difference between the seasons all year round. During spring and autumn, the two hemispheres receive approximately equal amounts of sunlight.

What if you are living at the North or South pole?


If you are at the North or South Pole, then also experience two very long seasons: in summer, the North Pole is leaning towards the Sun and there is “daylight” for nearly six months. In winter, the North Pole is leaning away from the Sun and it is “nighttime” for nearly six months.


 In most cultures, including all western countries, the year is commonly divided into four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall or Autumn, Winter.
Since the year has 12 months, each season lasts about three months. 

To keep your eyes a the sky you need some gadgets, which you can buy from here. You can start with binoculars which are cheap and handy.

Stay tuned for more interesting facts about astronomy!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Are you interested in stargazing?

-
Image
Are you interested in stargazing? If you are keenly interested in stargazing or have some previous knowledge about astronomy, so let me tell you about a myth, on which we have believed since our childhood. Do you really think that the sun rises from the east and set towards the west? You might have some serious misunderstanding regarding heavenly bodies. Since we all had been told this, but this is not actually the case. You haven’t focused yet because of your daily busy lives. If you observe thy sky throughout the year, you will find some interesting facts about it. First of all, the sun not rises exactly from the east neither set in the west.  Get up in the morning and take observation of the sun, mark the date and position of the sun. Suppose you start observing this from December, take a compass and turn towards the sunrise, you will find that the position of the sunrise is not actually from the east. It is nearly from the southeast and the setting position
Read more

Binoculars | How to find a Perfect one.

-
Image
Binoculars | How to find a Perfect one. Are you a stargazer or you want to spend your leisure time by observing the sky Binoculars are the best mate for you. The basic purpose of binoculars is to magnify long distant object but people love to watch the sky with them.   Most binoculars are one of the essential gadgets to observe the heavens. It has more benefits over telescopes because they are quite cheap and handy, which is the best thing about binoculars. So the question is how to select a good binocular, its range, its magnification, reliability, and its lens quality. Here are some good suggestions along with the direct link where you can buy any of them which are suitable for you. Binoculars are often specified by a set of numbers such as 7×35 or 8×40, the first number indicates the strength of magnification (how many times closer the subject is to you, 5 times closer, 7 times closer, 10 times closer) and the second number is the size of the objective lens meas
Read more

What is the aurora?

-
Image
What is the aurora? Named for the Roman goddess of dawn, the aurora is a mysterious and unpredictable display of light in the night sky. The aurora borealis and aurora australis often called the northern lights and southern lights are common occurrences at high northern and southern latitudes, less frequent at mid-latitudes, and seldom seen near the equator. While usually a milky greenish color, auroras can also show red, blue, violet, pink, and white. These colors appear in a variety of continuously changing shapes. Sometimes the aurora is as dim and scattered as to be mistaken for clouds or the Milky Way; sometimes it is bright enough to read by. What does an aurora look like?  Auroras can appear as long, narrow arcs of light, often extending east to west from horizon to horizon. At other times they stretch across the night sky in bands that kink, fold, and swirl, or even ruffle like curtains. They can spread out in multi-colored rays, like vertical shafts of lig
Read more