Of course, you can do the same with your best friend. Watch the new day dawning on a blanket and then take a nap. Wake up at 4 am and drive to a beautiful sunrise spot – it could be a seashore, a cityscape or any kind of scenic spot you and your soulmate enjoy. If you’re fed up with boring mornings, here are 10 ways to make the start of the day a small celebration (I’ve tried most of them many times, while some are still on my list): Sunrise date Understanding the deviation of the position of sunrise throughout the year is another tool in the toolbox of understanding the natural features around us and how we can use these to help us find direction.Īs we approach the winter solstice for 2020, why not start taking your own observations? Online resources such as have a plethora of data that helps explore the apparent movement of the heavens with respect to our position on the planet.The challenge: start the day early and greet the sunrise in one of these amazing ways! Exact numbers will vary, depending on your latitude, but for Cambridge UK where the above pictures were taken, sunrise on the summer equinox was at 48 degrees or just past North East whereas sunrise on the preceding winter solstice had been at 129 degrees or just before South East a massive difference in sunrise position of 81 degrees! At all other times of the year it is transitioning between the extremes shown at the two solstices. So does the sun rise in the east? Yes, it does on two days of the year, the equinoxes. Yes, there were a few early mornings involved! Still I have learnt a lesson and I have found a new vantage point with a clear sweep so will capture images from that point for the forth coming year. This is far more representative of the sunrise point on the summer solstice. I positioned this using my compass to take a reading against a feature in the trees. The little red dot I added to the image represents the position of the sun at sunrise to the horizon behind the trees. The sky is noticeably brighter than the other two images. The image with the sun sitting nicely on the top of the trees was taken about 55 minutes after the advertised time of sunrise so the position of the sun is ~15 degrees past where it would be at true dawn. This is due to a combination of increase in the height of the ground to the LH side of the image and also the block of woods obscuring sun rise above the true horizon. Notice that the LH image is closer to the centre than the RH image. Each picture was taken from the same vantage point. The picture above is a composite showing the position of the sun as it rises at winter solstice (right-hand RH) image, equinox (middle) and summer solstice (left-hand LH). Sun as it rises at different times of the year.
These seasonal events are convenient points in the year to make observations. For instance the summer solstice in 2020 was on 20th June at 22:43 in Ely UK.
#Which way does the sunrise full
It’s also interesting to note that the true definition of these key events is actually a single point in time not the full day. Through the year, there are four major events that happen on or around the dates shown and are key in the apparent movement of the sun these being:Įxact dates each year need to be checked as adjustments, like those for a leap year, can change the date by a day or two. This apparent movement is due to the rotation of the Earth (daily sunrise and set) and the relationship of the Earth’s axial tilt to the sun throughout the year (longer or shorter days). Of course the sun isn’t really moving with respect to the Earth. Whilst most people intuitively understand that the sun moves across the sky on a daily basis, and that the days get longer or shorter depending on the time of year, few stop to consider the effect this has on the position of sunrise and sunset throughout the year. Our ancient ancestors understood this intimately with many henges aligning with the position of the sun at key points throughout the year. Without a doubt, a fundamental understanding of the apparent movement of the sun over time is key to natural navigation. It depends is the answer I like, this leads to some interesting conversations where the fundamentals of solar movement can be discussed. In a large group, I invariably get answers ranging from “yes” through “no” to “it depends”. I like to start my natural navigation sessions with a variation of the above question.
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