Comments on: Shall I compare thee to a summer's solstice?

By: ElmarM

ElmarM — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 16:12:27 +0000

Ahhh, darn it is a leap year of course!
Thanks for the reply Robert and all! Man, I feel really stupid now

By: Lars Bruchmann

Lars Bruchmann — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 15:09:17 +0000

I worked with an Australian woman in Italy (not relevant really) and in 1999 she complained that the summer solstice was on the wrong day. She said when she was a little girl it was always on the 21st of June. I tried to explain to her that the Earth and Sun and cosmos really don’t care what names or numbers we give any particular point in time. To no avail.

By: Lars Bruchmann

Lars Bruchmann — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 15:06:12 +0000

23: OH!!! I NEVER thought of it that way… people think the Earth is actively changing its tilt. Like the northern hemisphere is being pushed towards the sun as if a big finger touched the ‘pole’ at the north and gave it a shove?? OMFSM. That never occurred to me. My brain does not work that way. Probably why most people think I’m weird and do not understand what I’m talking about. That’s fine with me.

By: Teacher Al

Teacher Al — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 14:20:06 +0000

One misconception some people hold is that the Earth’s axis tilts radically to cause the seasons rather than being a result of Earth’s travel in its orbit. This phrasing may exacerbate the problem: “the Earth’s north pole will be tipped over toward the Sun as far as it can for the year.” I’m getting vertigo from the change in tilt.

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 12:49:15 +0000

How many people spotted the booboo on spaceweather.com?

http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=20&month=06&year=2012

“Today, the sun crosses the celestial equator….”

By: beer case

beer case — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 12:05:46 +0000

Making the solstice a battleground for political correctness is pointless. As others have said, using the name of the month, is neither a good solution. Calling it “The northern solstice” would work better. But then, you’ll still have the “Northern Hemisphere bias”, and a much bigger discussion on why we define north as “up”.

As some wise man (or woman?) once said: Pick your fights.

By: Neil Haggath

Neil Haggath — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 12:00:33 +0000

Phil:
In the caption of the partial eclipse image, you say: “Technically, this is a transit, not an eclipse”.
Technically, there is of course no such thing as a “solar eclipse”, or “eclipse of the Sun” at all! A total or partial eclipse is really an occultation of the Sun by the Moon, and an annular eclipse is really a transit of the Moon.
On 14 November in Australia, I’ll be making my fifth attempt to observe a total occultation of the Sun by the Moon…

By: Naomi

Naomi — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 08:08:33 +0000

It’s the 21st here in Australia!

It’s also winter. How about that. (If I was sitting any closer to the heater, I’d possibly be on fire.)

I much prefer June solstice and December solstice – ‘Northern solstice’ doesn’t quite sound right to me, since a) we’re having a solstice down here as well, and b) the one in December is a solstice too, and that takes place in your winter. It’s not like solstices are exclusive to June! ‘Northern summer solstice’ and ‘Northern winter solstice’ are more accurate, but still terribly Northern-centric. The Southern hemisphere does exist too, you know!

On a happier note – this time next year I’ll be on a cruise ship above the Arctic Circle in the vicinity of Nordkapp. Yay! Midnight sun on the June solstice!

By: StuartG

StuartG — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 04:07:42 +0000

@3 ElmarM

Here in New Zealand it is the 21st June!

It’s also Matariki. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matariki

By: Muz

Muz — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 23:47:03 +0000

I prefer June solstice and looking out my north facing window I see a VERY low sun on this crisp winter day. Must light a fire outside and run around it naked. Sometime.