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Article #65

Why does the sun rise/set above due east/west?

#65
From: stephen anthony
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 19:39
29 lines
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Here's a question that's stumped me for a while, but I've not known who to
ask. If this group isn't the appropriate forum, let me know and I'll go
elsewhere.

There's a bit of reservation land nearby that has what they call the
'solstice stones'. Nothing like Stonehenge, or anything, but simply a set
of stones in the ground that mark the ordinal points of the compass, along
with the sun rise/set points for the summer and winter solstice. The
placement of these solstice stones confirmed something I had known for a
bit; that in the Northern Hemisphere, the point of sunrise/set on the
summer solstice is above the east-west axis. Since, the sun on that day is
at it's highest (Tropic of Cancer (or is it Capricorn?)) and that that is
far south of eastern Massachusetts, how can this be? 

I tried to explain it by using the fact that the earth is (almost) a
sphere, and that at dawn here, it's noon 7 hours ahead (so somewhere around
the Mideast), and perhaps the apparent angles make it appear that the sun
is rising above the east-west axis. But I was unable to prove this to my
satisfaction.

Does anyone have an explanation for this, or a pointer to a reference?

I'd appreciate it.
-- 
Steve Anthony                     |  "Ain't nobody gettin' outta here |
Software Engineer              	  |   with out singin' the blues"     |
(617) 234-4000                    |                                   |
steveo@think.com                  |  - Albert "The Iceman" Collins    |
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From: steveo@think.com (stephen anthony)
Newsgroups: alt.sci.planetary
Subject: Why does the sun rise/set above due east/west?
Date: 11 Nov 1992 19:39:52 GMT
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
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