generic image
Processing...
  • Games
  • Catalog
  • Develop
  • Robux
  • Search in Players
  • Search in Games
  • Search in Catalog
  • Search in Groups
  • Search in Library
  • Log In
  • Sign Up
  • Games
  • Catalog
  • Develop
  • Robux
   
ROBLOX Forum » Club Houses » Off Topic
Home Search
 

Re: ☯Equinox☯

Previous Thread :: Next Thread 
Musiao is not online. Musiao
Joined: 01 Nov 2013
Total Posts: 276
22 Nov 2013 10:27 PM
An equinox occurs twice a year (around 20 March and 22 September), when the plane of the Earth's equator passes the center of the Sun. At this time the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun. The term equinox can also be used in a broader sense, meaning the date when such a passage happens. The name "equinox" is derived from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night), because around the equinox, night and day are about equal length.

At an equinox the Sun is at one of two opposite points on the celestial sphere where the celestial equator (i.e. declination 0) and ecliptic intersect. These points of intersection are called equinoctial points: classically, the vernal point (RA = 00h 00m 00s and longitude = 0º) and the autumnal point (RA = 12h 00m 00s and longitude = 180º). By extension, the term equinox may denote an equinoctial point.

The equinoxes are the only times when the subsolar point (the place on the Earth's surface where the center of the Sun is exactly overhead) is on the Equator. The subsolar point crosses the Equator moving northward at the March equinox and moving southward at the September equinox. (Since the sun's ecliptic latitude isn't exactly zero it is not exactly above the equator at the moment of the equinox, but the two events usually occur less than 30 seconds apart.)

The equinoxes are the only times when the terminator is perpendicular to the Earth's Equator. Thus the Northern and Southern hemispheres are illuminated equally. (At the solstices, that angle reaches its minimum of 66.5°, corresponding to 90° minus Earth's axial tilt).[2]

Another meaning of equinox is the date when day and night are the same length.[3] The equinox is not exactly the same as the day when day and night are of equal length for two reasons. Firstly, because of the size of the sun, the top of the disk rises above the horizon (constituting 'sunrise' which is the start of 'daytime') when the center of the disk is still below the horizon. Secondly, the Earth's atmosphere refracts sunlight which means that an observer can experience light (daytime) even before the first glimpse of the sun's disk has risen above the horizon. To avoid this ambiguity the term equilux is sometimes used in this sense.[4][note 1] Times of sunset and sunrise vary with an observer's location (longitude and latitude), so the dates when day and night are of exactly equal length likewise depend on location. For places near the equator the daytime is always longer than the night, so they would never experience an equinox by this definition.

When Julius Caesar established his calendar in 45 BC he set March 25 as the spring equinox. Since a Julian year (365.25 days) is slightly longer than an actual year the calendar drifted with respect to the equinox, such that the equinox was occurring on about 21 March in AD 300 and by AD 1500 it had reached 11 March.

This drift induced Pope Gregory XIII to create a modern Gregorian calendar. The Pope wanted to restore the edicts concerning the date of Easter of the Council of Nicaea of AD 325. (Incidentally, the date of Easter itself is fixed by an approximation of lunar cycles used in the Hebraic calendar, but according to the historian Bede the English name "Easter" comes from a pagan celebration by the Germanic tribes of the vernal (spring) equinox.) So the shift in the date of the equinox that occurred between the 4th and the 16th centuries was annulled with the Gregorian calendar, but nothing was done for the first four centuries of the Julian calendar. The days of 29 February of the years AD 100, AD 200, AD 300, and the day created by the irregular application of leap years between the assassination of Caesar and the decree of Augustus re-arranging the calendar in AD 8, remained in effect. This moved the equinox four days earlier than in Caesar's time.

On the day of the equinox, the center of the Sun spends a roughly equal amount of time above and below the horizon at every location on the Earth, so night and day are about the same length. The word equinox derives from the Latin words aequus (equal) and nox (night). In reality, the day is longer than the night at an equinox. Day is usually defined as the period when sunlight reaches the ground in the absence of local obstacles. From the Earth, the Sun appears as a disc rather than a point of light, so when the center of the Sun is below the horizon, its upper edge is visible. Furthermore, the atmosphere refracts light, so even when the upper limb of the Sun is 0.4 degree below the horizon, its rays curve over the horizon to the ground. In sunrise/sunset tables, the assumed semidiameter (apparent radius) of the Sun is 16 minutes of arc and the atmospheric refraction is assumed to be 34 minutes of arc. Their combination means that when the upper limb of Sun is on the visible horizon, its center is 50 minutes of arc below the geometric horizon, which is the intersection with the celestial sphere of a horizontal plane through the eye of the observer. These effects make the day about 14 minutes longer than the night at the Equator and longer still towards the Poles. The real equality of day and night only happens in places far enough from the Equator to have a seasonal difference in day length of at least 7 minutes, actually occurring a few days towards the winter side of each equinox.

Equinox is a phenomenon that can occur on any planet with a significant tilt to its rotational axis. Most dramatic of these is Saturn, where the equinox places its normally majestic ring system edge-on facing the Sun. As a result, they are visible only as a thin line when seen from Earth. When seen from above – a view seen by humans during an equinox for the first time from the Cassini space probe in 2009 – they receive very little sunshine, indeed more planetshine than light from the Sun.

This lack of sunshine occurs once every 14.7 earth-years. It can last a few weeks before and after the exact equinox. The most recent exact equinox for Saturn was on August 11, 2009. Its next equinox will take place on April 30, 2024.

One effect of equinoctial periods is the temporary disruption of communications satellites. For all geostationary satellites, there are a few days around the equinox when the sun goes directly behind the satellite relative to Earth (i.e. within the beam-width of the ground-station antenna) for a short period each day. The Sun's immense power and broad radiation spectrum overload the Earth station's reception circuits with noise and, depending on antenna size and other factors, temporarily disrupt or degrade the circuit. The duration of those effects varies but can range from a few minutes to an hour. (For a given frequency band, a larger antenna has a narrower beam-width and hence experiences shorter duration "Sun outage" windows.

OH GOD THIS TOOK SO MUCH TIME TO WRITE.

#SiggyYouIncompleteNewfrag
Report Abuse
115slaya is not online. 115slaya
Joined: 13 Feb 2013
Total Posts: 4574
22 Nov 2013 10:28 PM
That's a nice lecture on the equinox. You should use that for science class sometime.
Report Abuse
kickmecookies is not online. kickmecookies
Joined: 08 Nov 2008
Total Posts: 43469
22 Nov 2013 10:30 PM
tl;dr
Report Abuse
Musiao is not online. Musiao
Joined: 01 Nov 2013
Total Posts: 276
22 Nov 2013 10:47 PM
I'm only in 4th grade. .-.

#SiggyYouIncompleteNewfrag
Report Abuse
Previous Thread :: Next Thread 
Page 1 of 1
 
 
ROBLOX Forum » Club Houses » Off Topic
   
 
   
  • About Us
  • Jobs
  • Blog
  • Parents
  • Help
  • Terms
  • Privacy

©2017 Roblox Corporation. Roblox, the Roblox logo, Robux, Bloxy, and Powering Imagination are among our registered and unregistered trademarks in the U.S. and other countries.



Progress
Starting Roblox...
Connecting to Players...
R R

Roblox is now loading. Get ready to play!

R R

You're moments away from getting into the game!

Click here for help

Check Remember my choice and click Launch Application in the dialog box above to join games faster in the future!

Gameplay sponsored by:
Loading 0% - Starting game...
Get more with Builders Club! Join Builders Club
Choose Your Avatar
I have an account
generic image