Dear Jean, and Lacemakers,
> There was a programme on TV the other night about the effect the moon has on > the earth. It had never occured to me until it was mentioned in that > programme that in the southern hemisphere the sun and moon travel across the > sky from right to left instead of from left to right as it does in the > northern hemisphere. I'd find that very disorientating. > (snip) > > Jean in Poole > No! No! The television people have got things confused again. I asked my husband, who instructs in astronomy and gliding in his spare time, and he sent this message:- "The Sun still rises in the East and sets in the West in the Southern hemisphere, it is that it is in the North, not the South that seem to confuse people. "I remember when I was with the WRC we had a young Australian guy working for us (some sort of holiday job IIRC) and he turned up hours late to a site in the Midlands. It emerged that he had got totally lost because the Sun was in the South, not the North. "I've asked gliding people and they claim not to be bothered as the Sun is virtually overhead in SA and Oz, and they use GPS in any case." Think about it: the Earth goes round as a whole sphere. There would only be the effect of seeing the Sun going in opposite directions if the Earth were divided at the Equator and the Northern Hemisphere were going in the opposite direction to the Southern Hemisphere. However, if the Sun were, say, over the Equator, it would look as if it were in the North if you were below the Equator, and as if it were in the South if you were above the Equator. If you can remember the details of that television programme, I think you should send them a crisp feedback message! Best wishes, Linda Walton, (in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, U.K., where I can't see the Sun at all due to heavy fog, which makes me feel so disinclined to start the things I ought to be doing). To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
