The sun is a celestial object that can be seen from anywhere in the world. The development and preservation of wildlife on earth depends on it, since it is it that gives heat. Every morning it illuminates the sky and many are interested in the question, where does the sun rise?
Where does the sun come from?
The appearance of the sun begins in the east, and gradually moving through the sky, it sets from the opposite side in the west. In ancient times, people considered the Earth to be the center of the universe, and that all the celestial bodies revolve around it. However, this point of view has long ceased to be scientific and has been successfully refuted.
The sun is a star and motionless, while the Earth, moving in its orbit, revolves around it. But, nevertheless, this state of affairs creates the effect that we observe every morning - the sunrise begins in the east and ends in the west.
Why would people track the movement of the sun?
With the advent of the need to take measurements of time, people began to look for objects that would help them in this. Once upon a time, it was possible to find out how much time passed only by the movement of the sun or moon (at night). Why is this celestial object so attracted to people and why is it so important for some to track its movement?
- Sunrise announces the beginning of daylight, and its sunset about the end.
- The biological clock and rhythms of many living organisms on the planet are guided by it.
- For some, it is important to know this when compiling astrological charts and horoscopes.
- These indicators are used by astronomers for various purposes.
- Changing the position of the sun in the sky allowed the ancient people to create the first timekeeping. For this, the first stone sundial was even invented.
- Counting days and months is also based on the position of the sun, including the modern Gregorian calendar. Where the day is measured from one sunrise to the next, and the year is equated to a full circle around the star.
From this it should be concluded that the relevance of tracking the position of the earth relative to the sun does not lose its relevance to this day. In addition, scientists monitor its performance, measure activity, predict magnetic storms, etc.
What benefit does the sun bring to man?
Do not underestimate the benefits of the sun in human life. However, scientists continue to study its effect on the body. A group of scientists from Edinburgh found that if a person stays in the sun for a while, then the following processes are observed in his body:
- Blood pressure decreases.
- The risk of thrombosis is reduced.
- The body is rejuvenated.
- Metabolism improves.
- The risk of stroke is reduced.
- Blood circulation improves.
In addition, the sun is an excellent prevention of heart attack, the development of cancer or other pathologies. In addition, vitamin D is produced in the sun and is useful to everyone, which strengthens bone tissue and removes heavy metals from the body.
You can highlight what the benefits of the sun are:
- Promotes the production of serotonin - a hormone responsible for blood coagulation. In addition, a sufficient amount of this substance helps to improve mood, therefore it is also called the "hormone of happiness."
- Biologically inert nitrite NO3 is released under the sun, which helps to reduce pressure and eliminate the likelihood of developing heart failure or heart attack.
- The sun's rays have an antibacterial effect, so when warmed up in the sun, wounds and scratches heal faster, acne and acne disappear.
But this, of course, is not the whole list of useful properties that the sun's rays possess. In addition, one should not forget about the general benefits of the sun to all living things on the planet.
Do not think that the sun's rays are so useful as to be uncontrollably under them. In addition to the mass of benefits, they can do as much harm if you are careless with them.
- With a long stay, a tan appears - this is a protective mechanism of the body that tries to cope with the harmful effects of ultraviolet rays. If you do not take measures and protect the skin at the first reddening, you can easily get a serious burn. In some people, this even leads to skin cancer.
- Without sunglasses, you can’t look at the sun, as its strong brightness can dazzle or damage your eyesight.
- It is contraindicated for those who suffer from dry skin for a long time in the sun without a moisturizer, as the rays are even more able to dry it.
- If you do not protect your head with a panama hat or cap, you can get a sunstroke or heat. Its manifestations are: fever, increased heart rate, nausea. Sometimes people lose consciousness and even die if they don’t give urgent help and do not take the person to a cool dark room, applying ice compresses.
Therefore, be sure to be in direct sunlight, observe safety precautions and protect your head with a light headgear, drink more fluid, wear glasses. Also try to avoid being outdoors when the sun is at its zenith.
The sun is a heavenly luminary that gives warmth and light to all living things on the planet, rising in the east. But besides good, it can bring harm, and you should not forget about it.
The sun is the source of life for our planet. The heavenly body caresses us with its warmth, lights us up in the afternoon and gives joy to everything that exists on Earth. Another important feature: help orienteering. Thanks to the sun, we can determine the cardinal directions and choose the desired direction.
Sun way
Every morning, the gentle sun calls us to awakening and new discoveries in this wonderful world. And in the evening it, making its slow course in the sky, goes beyond the horizon, giving the opportunity to relax after a busy day. Where does this journey come from? Where does the sun set at the end of the journey?
The ascension of the main body begins in the east. The sun is leaving us at the end of the day in the west. After that, it continues its path, but already on the other side of our amazing planet. And in the morning it rises again in the east. This picture is presented to us from the Earth. Interestingly, ancient people considered this point of view incorrect. In that case, where does the sun actually set, and how does it reappear in the sky?
If you do not delve into the details of the worldview of the inhabitants of antiquity, then we can say that they are right. The fact is that our planet is part of the solar system, where the sun is motionless and is in the center. The earth moves around it in its orbit and, in addition to such a movement, rotates around its imaginary axis. The planet makes a full revolution in 24 hours, in other words - in a day. That is why it seems to us that the places where the sun sets and where it returns again in the morning are unchanged.
View from space
If it were possible to look at the solar system far from space (so as to see absolutely all the planets), the picture would be as follows: all the celestial bodies of this system rotate in the same direction from west to east (counterclockwise). In fact - Venus rotates around its axis in the direction opposite to the rotation of other planets. There are astronomers' assumptions that a very powerful asteroid hit it many years ago and violated the direction of rotation with its blow. Uranus, too, under the influence of such forces seemed to be overturned. Now, watching him, you see the picture of rotation as if from the side.
North Pole and other parts of the world
If a person could study the movement of the main body from the North Pole, then he would see the rotation of the Earth counterclockwise, as well as the place where the sun sets and how it rises. The visual movement of a celestial body will appear as a move from east to west. In fact, it will move east, and the Earth will rotate around its axis.
Interestingly, in different parts of the world the sun does not rise at the same time. For example, on the east coast of the USA, this happens 3 hours before those areas that are located on the west coast. Accordingly, the sunset in different parts of the world takes place at different times.
Dusk
The immediate period of time before sunrise and before sunset is twilight. This is a particularly beautiful sight. The disk of a celestial body is located very close to the horizon, part of the rays falls into the upper atmospheric layers and is reflected on the surface of the Earth. The duration of such a colorful spectacle lasts about 2 hours. But this is only in temperate latitudes. In the circumpolar zones, before the sun sets, twilight lasts several hours. Directly at the poles, this period takes from 2 to 3 weeks! At the same time, at equator before sunrise, twilight lasts only 20-25 minutes.
At this time, thanks to the optical effect, we see a stunning picture when the sun's rays illuminate the surface of the Earth and the sky with multicolored tones.
Orientation: how to determine the cardinal directions without a compass on the ground?
If there is a wristwatch with arrows (not electronic), then in the “horizontal” position they need to be turned clockwise in the sun. Having drawn an imaginary bisector between the number 12 and the direction to the heavenly body, we get the line "north-south". It is also interesting that until noon, the south is to the right of the sun.
Understanding how to determine the cardinal directions without a compass, a person will be able to navigate anywhere and go in the right direction. This knowledge is very important, especially for tourists, forestry workers, hunters, sailors and people engaged in other activities.
The method described above can give relatively true results in northern latitudes. In moderate, it works only partially (especially in winter). In the southern regions, the summer sun is high, so errors may occur. To everything else, you need to consider daylight saving time and vice versa (since this affects the definition of noon).
It is also important to remember where the sun rises and where it sets in mid-latitudes. In these places, the main luminary rises in the summer in the northeast, and sets in the northwest. 3imoy - in the southeast and southwest, respectively. Only 2 times a year, sunrise occurs exactly in the east, and sunset in the west. These are the days of the equinoxes - March 21 and September 23.
Shadow and terrain orientation
There is another way to orientate by shadow. In unfamiliar places, when this need arises, you need to take into account different celestial bodies. It can be a polar star at night, and the sun at day.
Understanding which side the sun is setting, you can determine other parts of the world and choose the right direction of the path. For example, in the northern latitudes, when the time of summer nights comes, the setting sun is close to the horizon. Therefore, the sky on the north side is brighter than in the south.
It is known that the highest solar position can be determined by the shortest shadow. This corresponds to noon. The direction of such a shadow indicates north. It is the same with the moon: if it is full and occupies the highest position above the horizon, it means that it is in the south. This is the time when there is enough light to distinguish shadows well. Similarly, with the full moon - the shortest shadow. It's midnight. The direction of the shadow will point north.
From childhood, we got used to the fact that in the morning the Sun rises in the east, and in the evening sets in the west. But is it really so?
Sunrise at the Baikonur Cosmodrome
You probably know that rooms with windows facing south are usually very sunny. Why so? The fact is that when the Sun rises above everything above the horizon (culminates, in scientific terms), it appears precisely over the southern part of the horizon. This means that on any day, if the Sun appeared above the horizon, it will certainly pass above the point of the south, and at that moment it will culminate.
Of course, you noticed that the length of daylight hours varies greatly throughout the year: in winter the day is shorter and in summer longer. Is the sun moving slower in the sky in summer than in winter? Of course not! It’s just that every day the point of sunrise and sunset changes.
Labrador dog sitting on the shore of the Labrador Peninsula watching the sunset in the Labrador Sea
In fact, exactly in the east, the Sun rises only twice a year, on the days of the spring (March 20th or 21st) and autumn (September 22nd or 23rd) equinoxes. On the same days, it sits exactly in the west, and the longitude of the day is equal to half a day - twelve hours. After the vernal equinox, the day begins to lengthen, the sun climbs higher and higher in the sky, and the points of sunrise and sunset are shifted to the north (be sure to look at the picture, otherwise you won’t understand anything). This continues until the summer solstice - June 21 (22). On this day, in temperate latitudes, the points of sunrise and sunset are most shifted to the north, and the longitude of the day is greatest.
The figure shows how the position of the sunrise and sunset points changes throughout the year.
Beyond the Arctic Circle (Murmansk, Norilsk, Vorkuta, Norwegian Tromsø), the sunrise and sunset points are gradually approaching, and at some point they merge into one at the north point. After that, the Sun stops setting over the horizon: the polar day is coming.
After the summer solstice, the points of sunrise and sunset begin to move back, east and west, the longitude of the day gradually decreases. After the autumnal equinox (on this day the Sun rises in the east for the second time a year and sets in the west), the points of sunrise and sunset begin to approach again, but already in the southern part of the horizon, and the longitude of the day decreases (see picture!). This happens before the winter solstice. On this day, the sun rises and sets farthest south, the day is the shortest in the year, and the night is the longest.
At those latitudes where there was a polar day, a polar night will come: the sun will not appear above the horizon. This will happen when the place of sunrise and sunset merges at a point in the south. After the winter solstice, the day begins to lengthen, the points of sunrise and sunset gradually move back to the points of east and west, and everything repeats again.
Polar day in Severomorsk, pay attention to the clock in the lower right corner
But what happens in the southern hemisphere? In the southern hemisphere the opposite is true: when we have the longest day, it is the smallest, when we have the spring equinox, in the southern hemisphere - the autumn equinox. In the southern hemisphere, the Sun climbs above the north, but rises and sets, as in our case, in the eastern and western parts of the sky, respectively.
So if you are told that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, you can safely answer that this is not true.
Each of us has repeatedly observed a magnificent picture, how the sun rises and sets. In the city it is not possible to observe this phenomenon in all its beauty, since here the horizon is closed by houses and other large structures. City dwellers see the sun only when it is high above the horizon. Good watch sunrise in the village, and even better in the field or on the high seas. In the morning in the eastern part of the horizon a dawn gradually begins, the sky takes on a fiery crimson color, and at the same time a gradual lightening begins. Then, due to the horizon, the small upper edge of the solar disk slowly appears first. This edge gradually increases until, finally, the entire shining sun disk appears in all its greatness above the horizon. This creates the impression that on the very surface of the Earth lies a huge ball of fiery-crimson color. This impression is scattered only when the sun gradually rises above the horizon. It seems to us that it is gradually moving through the sky. Moving all the time from left to right, the Sun first rises higher, its color becomes more and more light yellow, and its size decreases.
Having reached the highest point, the Sun, moving all in the same direction, begins to decline gradually and, finally, completely hides behind the horizon. But before that, again, just like in the morning, near the horizon, the Sun becomes fiery-purple and again seems to increase in size.
At this time, our gaze is a beautiful sight. Engaged in the evening dawn. Sky in the direction sunset covered with a thick crimson. It seems that this is the glow of a far-off raging big fire. Especially beautiful colors can be observed at this time at sea; not only water, but also all surrounding objects and people acquire a special flavor, a special reflection. Air shell
Why does such a coloring of the sky occur at sunrise and sunset? Our Earth, as you know, is surrounded air shell – atmosphere, which extends "up" to a thousand kilometers. The air shell has the highest density at the surface of the Earth, and the "higher", the more and more it becomes thinner. Thus, we live at the bottom of a deep and vast ocean of air, in which colossal storms often occur, accompanied by electric discharges, various flows of air masses and precipitation in the form of rain, snow and hail are observed; sometimes (after rain) a beautiful sight of the rainbow is presented to our eyes; quite often small solid bodies burst into our earthly atmosphere, and then against the background of the night sky we observe a meteor phenomenon. Due to the presence of air, the sky seems bluish in the afternoon. This blue air curtain in the old days was mistaken for some kind of hard, “crystal” firmament, which in the form of a cap covers a flat earth’s surface, as if (more:). In the morning and in the evening, when the Moon or the Sun appears over the horizon, or when they are hiding behind the horizon, they seem to us to be reddish, purple. The sun and moon take this color in the morning and in the evening because at this time we observe them through thicker layers of air than at the time when these celestial bodies are high above the horizon. It is known that the thicker the atmosphere, the more rays are retained in it. Particularly easily, the earth's atmosphere delays blue and green rays, least of all red, orange and yellow. Due to this circumstance, the Sun, the Moon and the sky areas close to them in the mornings and evenings (when the Moon and the Sun are low near the horizon) seem to us to be some kind of crimson, orange or yellow-red.Misconceptions about the Earth
In ancient times, people thought that our Earth stands motionless in the center of the Universe, and the Sun and all other celestial bodies revolve around it, and that therefore night is replaced by day, and day by night. So, for example, the monk Kuzma Indikoplov, who lived in the sixth century AD, believed that the Universe is like a chest of grandiose proportions. In his book Christian Topography, he writes that“... the inhabited Earth rises from the south to the north higher and higher, so the southern countries are much lower than the northern ones. Therefore, he says, the paradise rivers Tigris and Euphrates, flowing from north to south, have a faster flow than the sacred river Nile, flowing from south to north. In the very north, he writes, there is a large mountain behind which the Sun is hiding. From this, ”says Kuzma Indikoplov,“ there is a change of day and night. ”According to Kuzma Indikoplov, angels are above the firmament of heaven, collecting clouds, sending rain and snow, drought and cold, wind and storm. Science has long destroyed these misconceptions about the earth and the setting of the sun over the northern mountain.
Earth's daily rotation
The true reason for this phenomenon is that the Earth does not stand motionless, and all the time it rotates non-stop around an axis, making a complete revolution during the day. Due to this earth's daily rotation, it, as it were, substitutes under the rays of the Sun either one or the other side of its surface.
The hemisphere facing the Sun is illuminated and heated by it. Here, all nature is awake under the invigorating sunshine. In this hemisphere is a day. The other hemisphere, facing in the opposite direction, at this time is not illuminated by the sun's rays, therefore, there is night, and all nature is immersed in sleep. Due to the constant axial rotation of the Earth, its hemispheres change their positions in relation to the Sun. Therefore, where there was night, a few hours later the day comes, and vice versa. It should be noted that the time is the same everywhere on the same meridian, but different on different meridians. This circumstance introduces a certain schedule in almost all areas of national economic life. "It's time to finish work," we say, the sun has already set.And indeed, when night falls, work ceases almost everywhere. Nature and people fall into a dream. But at the same time, the working day begins in the other hemisphere. So we alternate our rest, sleep and working time depending on the daily rotation of the Earth, and it rotates forever, without needing rest, like an “eternal” engine. Only transport, regardless of sunrise and sunset, day or night, works round the clock. The movement of railway trains is indicated by the rails, the river steamboat - by the buoy, and sea and air ships, lighthouses, a compass, radio, modern navigators and the starry sky are helped to navigate in the air and water.
If our planet did not revolve around the Sun and was absolutely flat, the celestial body would always be at its zenith and not move anywhere - there would be no sunset, no dawn, no life. Fortunately, we have the opportunity to observe the sunrise and sunset - and therefore life on planet Earth continues.
The Earth tirelessly moves around the Sun and its axis, and once a day (with the exception of polar latitudes), the solar disk appears and disappears beyond the horizon, indicating the beginning and end of daylight. Therefore, in astronomy, sunrise and sunset are the times when the highest point of the solar disk appears or disappears above the horizon.
In turn, the period before sunrise or sunset is called twilight: the solar disk is not far from the horizon, and therefore part of the rays, falling into the upper atmosphere, are reflected from it on the earth's surface. The duration of twilight before sunrise or sunset directly depends on latitude: at the poles they last from 2 to 3 weeks, in the circumpolar zones - several hours, in temperate latitudes - about two hours. But at the equator, the time before sunrise is from 20 to 25 minutes.
During sunrise and sunset, a certain optical effect is created when the sun's rays illuminate the earth's surface and firmament, coloring them in colorful tones. Before sunrise, at dawn, colors have more delicate hues, while sunset illuminates the planet with rays of saturated red, burgundy, yellow, orange and very rarely green.
The sunset has such an intensity of colors due to the fact that during the day the earth's surface warms up, humidity decreases, the speed of air flows increases, and dust rises into the air. The difference in the color scheme between sunrise and sunset in many respects depends on the area where the person is and watches these amazing natural phenomena.
External characteristics of the marvelous natural phenomenon
Since the sunrise and sunset can be spoken of as two identical phenomena that differ from each other in color saturation, the description of the sunset over the horizon can also be applied to the time before sunrise and its appearance, only in the reverse order.
The lower the solar disk descends to the western horizon, the less bright it becomes yellow, then orange and finally red. The sky also changes its color: first it is golden brown, then orange, and at the edge - red.
When the solar disk comes close to the horizon, it acquires a dark red color, and on either side of it you can see a bright strip of dawn, the colors of which from top to bottom pass from bluish-green to bright orange tones. At the same time, a colorless radiance forms above the dawn.
Simultaneously with this phenomenon, on the opposite side in the sky appears a strip of ash-blue hue (Earth’s shadow), above which you can see a segment of orange-pink color, the Belt of Venus - it appears above the horizon at a height of 10 to 20 ° and in clear sky visible anywhere in the world.
The more the Sun goes beyond the horizon, the more purple the sky becomes, and when it falls four to five degrees below the horizon, the hue takes on the most saturated colors. After this, the sky gradually becomes fiery red (rays of the Buddha), and from the place where the sun's disk came in, upward, gradually fading away, streaks of light rays stretch, after the disappearance of which near the horizon you can see a dimming strip of dark red color.
After the shadow of the Earth gradually fills the sky, the Belt of Venus dissipates, the silhouette of the Moon appears in the sky, then the stars - and night falls (dusk ends when the solar disk goes six degrees beyond the horizon). The more time passes from the sun going beyond the horizon, the colder it becomes, and by morning, before sunrise, the lowest temperature is observed. But everything changes when the red Sun begins a few hours later: in the east, the solar disk appears, the night leaves, and the earth's surface begins to warm up.
Why is the sun red
The sunset and sunrise of the red Sun from ancient times attracted the attention of mankind, and therefore people tried by all means available to them to explain why the solar disk, being yellow in color, acquires a reddish tint on the horizon. The first attempt to explain this phenomenon was made by legends, followed by popular signs: people were sure that the sunset and sunrise of the red Sun did not bode well.
For example, they were convinced that if after sunrise the sky would remain in red for quite some time, the day would be unbearably hot. Another sign said that if before sunrise the sky in the east will be red, and after sunrise this color will immediately disappear - it will rain. Also, the weather was promised by the rising of the red Sun if, after its appearance in the sky, it immediately acquired a light yellow color.
The rising of the Red Sun in such an interpretation could hardly satisfy the inquiring human mind for a long time. Therefore, after the discovery of various physical laws, including the Rayleigh law, it was found out that the red color of the Sun is explained by the fact that it, having the longest wave, is scattered much less than other colors in the Earth’s dense atmosphere.
Therefore, when the sun is near the horizon, its rays glide along the earth's surface, where the air has not only the highest density, but also extremely strong humidity at this time, which delays and absorbs the rays. As a result, only rays of red and orange colors can break through the dense and humid atmosphere in the first minutes of sunrise.
Sunrise and sunset
Although many people believe that the earliest sunset in the northern hemisphere occurs on December 21, and the latest on June 21, the reality is wrong: the days of the winter and summer solstices are only dates that indicate the presence of the shortest or longest day of the year.
Interestingly, the north the latitude, the closer to the solstice the latest sunset of the year sets in. For example, in 2014 at a latitude of sixty-two degrees, it occurred on June 23. But at thirty-fifth latitude, the latest sunset of the year occurred six days later (the earliest sunrise was recorded two weeks earlier, a few days before June 21).
Without a special calendar at hand, it is quite difficult to determine the exact time of sunrise and sunset. This is due to the fact that evenly rotating around its axis and the Sun, the Earth moves unevenly in an elliptical orbit. It is worth noting that if our planet moved around the Sun, such an effect would not have been observed.
Mankind has noticed such deviations in time for a long time, and therefore, throughout their history, people have tried to clarify this question for themselves: the ancient structures erected by them, which are very strongly reminiscent of observatories, have survived to our days (for example, Stonehenge in England or the Mayan pyramids in America).
The last few centuries, to calculate the time of sunrise and sunset, astronomers, observing the sky, created the calendars of the moon and the sun. Nowadays, thanks to the virtual network, any Internet user can make the calculation of sunrise and sunset using special online services - for this it is enough to indicate the city or geographical coordinates (if the map does not have the right area), as well as the required date.
Interestingly, with the help of such calendars it is often possible to find out not only the time of sunset or sunrise, but also the period between the beginning of twilight and before sunrise, the length of the day / night, the time when the sun will be at its zenith and much more.