After prize-winning 'Skies/Himmel': Another inspiring and informative journey through the world above.
'Sun and Moon / Sonne und Mond' explores the two luminaries that dominate our sky. Enjoy inspiring photographs of Sun and Moon and read interestin...
"The day of the sun is like the day of a king. It is a promenade in the morning, a sitting on the throne at noon, a pageant in the evening." —Wallace Stevens
As Earth does not orbit the Sun in an upright but in a slightly tilted position, one of Earth's poles is sometimes tilted more toward the Sun during the orbit and sometimes tilted away. When a pole is tilted toward the Sun, this part of Earth gets more sunlight so that daylight hours are longer and average temperatures higher. In short: it is summer. When a pole is tilted away from the Sun, this part of Earth accordingly gets less sunlight, so that there are fewer hours of daylight and average temperatures are lower; it is winter.
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Solstices occur twice a year, with summer solstice in June and winter solstice in December. They mark the time when the northern or southern part of Earth gets the most or the least amount of sunlight. Sol means "sun" in Latin and stice originates from the Latin verb sistere, meaning "to stop or to stand still" as a solstice marks a turning point. The Earth's axial tilt is therewith responsible for both the seasons on Earth and for the reversed seasons in the northern and southern hemisphere.
Twice a year there is also a time when day and night have the same length as the Sun equally illuminates both the northern and the southern hemisphere. The spring or vernal equinox occurs in March, the fall or autumnal equinox in September. Equi means "equal" in Latin and nox "night".
While orbiting the Sun in a counterclockwise direction, Earth also rotates around its own axis counterclockwise. One full rotation takes about twenty-four hours or one solar day. Both the Earth's rotation around its own axis and Earth's axial tilt are responsible for the way we see the Sun move through our sky. We see the Sun rise when Earth has rotated far enough for the Sun to appear on the eastern horizon. The Sun then seems to travel through the sky from East to West with every further degree of Earth's rotation until the Sun sets and eventually disappears under the western horizon before a new day dawns and it appears at the eastern horizon again.
The Earth's axial tilt also determines the path the Sun takes through our sky. At the summer solstice the peak of the Sun's arc across the sky is the highest and at winter solstice the lowest. In summer it rises and sets farther north in the northern hemisphere and in winter farther south and vice versa in the southern hemisphere.
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