What would be the angle between the sun and southern horizon at noon ont he winter solstice at 21 deg N lat
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What would be the angle between the sun and southern horizon at noon ont he winter solstice at 21 deg N lat

[From: ] [author: ] [Date: 11-07-07] [Hit: ]
..Thank you!-Heres the answer -- no charge!Suppose youre at latitude L. If youre in the northern hemisphere,......
Please show your work...Thank you!

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Here's the answer -- no charge!

Suppose you're at latitude L. If you're in the northern hemisphere, the declination on the southern horizon (due south, ignoring refraction) is L-90. For instance, if you're at latitude 40 degrees, you can see down to declination -50 degrees on the southern horizon.

The other key points are this: At the winter solstice, the declination of the sun is -23.4 degrees; at the summer solstice, the declination is +23.4 degrees. (23.4 degrees is the tilt of the earth's equator to its orbital plane, rounded to the nearest tenth of a degree. Astronomers call this angle "the obliquity of the ecliptic.")

Now put these together:

For your first question, the latitude is +21, so the declination at the southern horizon is 21-90=-69. At the winter solstice, the sun is at declination -23.4 degrees, so its angle above the southern horizon is
-23.4 - (-69) = 45.6 degrees
(Remember that if you're in the northern hemisphere and the southern horizon has a declination of -69, you can see objects that have a greater declination. An object at declination -69 would be on the horizon, an object at declination -68 would be one degree above the horizon, and so on.)

For your second question, the latitude is +38, so the declination at the southern horizon is 38-90=-52. At the summer solstice, the sun is at declination +23.4, so its angle above the southern horizon is
+23.4 - (-52) = 75.4 degrees

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You should also remember (and understand the reason behind it) that at latitude L, the declination of the zenith (the overhead point) is L. If you're at the north pole, at latitude +90, the declination of the zenith is +90 degrees. If you're at the equator, at latitude 0, the declination of the zenith is 0 degrees.

The terms "winter" and "summer" solstice are a bit ambiguous because they are used implicitly with a northern-hemisphere bias. I prefer to call them the December solstice and the June solstice.

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Local noon or standard time noon? Here's the site:

http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astronomic…


It takes me time to do your research for you. I'm expensive, but very cheap for a consultant - $30.00 an hour minimum, or the equivalent in blood glucose test-strips.

Edit. I wasn't serious, BUT why can't you do your OWN research? Real life consultants charge HUNDREDS of dollars per hour.
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