Thursday, March 20, 2008

Here Comes the Sun!



Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right


Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun

and I say it's all right


Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun

and I say it's all right


Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...


Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting

Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right.

~ The Beatles ~


At 1:48 AM, the sun crossed the equator on its trip northward. Actually, the sun didn't move, we did. The earth tilts on its axis and it takes one year for it to make its journey around the sun. For half the year, the northern hemisphere is closer to the sun, and for the other half, it's the southern hemisphere.

It's said that on the vernal equinox (first day of spring), day and night are equal in terms of sunrise and sunset. In reality, this never occurs. The equinoxes are measured in terms of when the center of the sun crosses the equator, not the edge, which is what is used to determine sunrise and sunset.

It takes the sun 33 hours to cross the equator on the equinoxes and the closest day comes to equaling night is approximately seven minutes apart. And that's just at the equator. Further away, the discrepancy is even greater.

A common myth is that on the equinoxes, you can balance an egg on its end. You can do it, but you can do it any day of the year. The equinox doesn't have any magical pull that affects an egg's balance.

Here in northwest Ohio, the sun is shining in a clear blue sky today, but in spite of my previous springy post, we are under a winter storm watch for Friday evening through Saturday. One to three inches of snow is possible. Bleh.

______________
Some information taken from Wikipedia.

12 comments:

Meems said...

Hi Kylee, The teasing of a beautiful spring day and then forecast of snow the next must be the hard part of easing out of winter for you. Too bad that on the vernal equinox there isn't some heavenly switch that declares, "no more snow now --only spring conditions allowed."
Have a happy Easter and surely more blue sky, sunny days are soon to come.
Meems@ Hoe&Shovel

Frances, said...

Let the Beatles take us into spring, snow or not! You are a font of information, well done, teacher Kylee!
Frances at Faire Garden

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

I know you can balance an egg on its end, by why would you want to? Hang in there, it'll all melt under the strong spring sun.

Cindy Garber Iverson said...

This is the day I look forward to the most! The switchover means that I have more hours of daylight to "play" outside! Yay!

Cindy at Rosehaven Cottage

Anonymous said...

I'm envious of your knowledge. But I can certainly say I learned something today, on this first day of spring! I love, love the photo!
Brenda

Unknown said...

Meh indeed. As noted in the previous post, we got whacked with an icestorm, and followed that with rain and grey skies...maybe the weekend will show some improvement, but I just keep saying, "it's only Farch, it's only Farch...'

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Happy first day of spring to you. We had a pretty day too. Hang in there Kylee. Spring will be here to stay soon and then summer will slip in to warm your bones.

joey said...

Happy spring, Kylee ... I have been singing the song all day long!

Shady Gardener said...

Hi Kylee,
I had to laugh. MMD's comment about "why would you want to" made me stop and ask the question. (I've done the egg-thing before...) ;-)
We had a Beautiful Day again today. I know about the forecast... oh, well. It's still early... :-{

Kylee Baumle said...

Meems ~ Yes, that's kind of tough, but we know that's also early spring. We had an exchange student from Ecuador one year who had never experienced the change of seasons. In Quito, located in the Andes mountains, it's like spring every day - absolutely perfect. Karina thought when the calendar said spring that we'd never have snow again and that it would always be nice weather. We wish!

Frances ~ LOL. I really love trivia. I don't always remember it, but it's fascinating to me.
I was watching "American Idol" Tuesday night and when Brooke White came on and sang "Here Comes the Sun," I knew that was my inspiration for this post.

Mr McGregor's Daughter ~ Why? Because I can! LOL! Yeah, that's the great thing about snow at this time of the year. It melts quickly.

Cindy ~ Me, too!! That's just one of the great things about summer!

Brenda ~ I had help with the details from Wikipedia. But I do love trivia and actively seek it out. I remember a lot of trivial things and can't remember important stuff!

Jodi ~ Yes, indeed...it's only Farch...

Lisa ~ Won't that warm sun feel good? I can't wait until we're able to just sit outside, close my eyes, and revel in the warmth of the sun. (Without a coat!)

Joey ~ I was singing the song all day, too! The sun was shining all day long and it got up into the 50s...nice!

Shady Gardener ~ Yeah, it was fun to try the egg thing. It's not that easy, but it's fun when you can do it! We're on the southern edge of the projected storm, so it just depends on how it tracks. Actually, I hope we're on the snow side of the line and not on the rain and sleet side.

Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen said...

Looks like you're going to have a white Easter! Here it's going to be wet, windy and cold. Brrrrr!

Happy Easter Kylee!

Ewa said...

I will try to balance egg :)
Happy Easter Kylee!

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