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Perhaps there is one more way to look at this problem.
It is true that the sun is directly above the equator on the equinox.However,
the sun is much larger than the earth. It is also very far way.Thus, the rays
of sunlight striking the earth are all parallel (more or less).
Each sunlight ray is traveling parallel to the equator. Thus the rays follow
line of latitude.
So, even though the sun is over the equator, the light rays do not originate at
the equator.
Hope this helps,Mark
From: Brent <[email protected]>
To: sundial <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2015 8:46 PM
Subject: due east photos
I am having an off list discussion with Dave but I have a photo that you may
find informative.
I resized them for the list so I hope you can see the latitude lines.
what you are seeing is my globe oriented on north south axis and correct angle
for latitude.
I have a ruler close to my location with the zero on a latitude line
I am pointing the ruler due east, where the sun will rise on the equinox as it
peaks over my horizon.
As we look straight down you see a deviation from the latitude line of about
1" at 4" on the ruler.
Just rough scale 4" = 4,000 miles so 1" equals 1,000 miles = 25% deviation.
My horizon is about 50 miles from here so when I look at the sunrise on the
equinox my latitude is
actually about 12.5 miles north of that point on the horizon.
So it's not an insignificant difference.
brent
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