What are 3 reasons it doesn't look like we have 12 hours of light during Spring Equinox?

Question

Atleast, in the US. You see, the news paper will never say the Spring Equinox on its real date because when it is actually the Spring Equinox, it doesn't look like you're getting 12 hours of sunshine. It looks like this on a different date. I want to know three reasons why its not.

Answer 1

Are you saying there's less or more? Because tecnically there is more than 12 hours on the spring and fall equinoxes. The reason is the way light bends when it comes through our atmosphere - when the Sun looks like it's right on the horizon, it's actually slightly below the horizon.

Then there's the minor detail that it takes a couple minutes for the Sun to set - since the Sun is not a point but rather an extended object, there's a little bit of time between when the "bottom" of the Sun reaches the horizon (at sunset) and when the "top" of it finally goes below the horizon.

If it weren't for the bending of light rays by our atmosphere, and if the Sun were a point source instead of an extended source, then we would have exactly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness on the equinoxes.

Of course I also am assuming the Earth is perfectly spherical, without any hills or mountains along the horizon to make the Sun appear to set earlier.

Answer 2

The cardinal points of astronomical seasons, equinoxes and solstices, are not fixed dates, but movable dates. They can occur 20th to the 22nd. And look at local sunrise and sunset times in the almanac. These times can change depending on where you are at on the surface of the earth, & altitude above sea level. The time of day is also a varible, (ie spring does not begin at midnight)

Answer 3

1. Position - depending on your latitude. During spring and fall equinox, the sun shines directly on the equator (supposedly), and all other places (to north and south) will have variations of the sunlight (just like during summer solstice, southern hemisphere has shorter day, but Anarctic is always at night).

2. Place - if you were in Kathmandu, you will probably receive the least avg. daily sunlight than any other major cities, because it is surrounded by giant mountain ranges.

3. Occasional perfect solar eclipse

Answer 4

The Spring Equinox is basically an twist of destiny of Astronomy. the arriving of recent existence actually pertains to it indirectly and actually in lands heavily north of the equator. In temperate lands, the variable climate signifies that historic societies depending on agriculture ought to position self belief in indications in nature to inform them even as to commence planting, even as spring had all started. they could use the moon as a complicated degree of the passage of time. in case you want to have a good time some thing organic, have a good time the first bud wreck, the first daffodil, the first cuckoo - some thing extremely important.

Answer 5

It has to be the sun. It is going to burn out someday.