The sun rise appears to rise in the NE during the summer and sets in th NW. Is this so?

Question

By my observations from Wisconsin it would appear that the sun rises in the direction of Quebec in mid summer and seems to set towards Alaska. If I were to draw a straight line from my position through the sun at sunrise it would seem to continue on to the NE thus Quebec. Is this so? My friend suggests the sun appears to move from Florida through to Alaska. If that were so the sun would appear to rise in the SE during the summer. Obviously not correct. So the line must be a curve and not straight because of the tilt of the earth. What do you think or know to set a poor fellow straight on this?

Answer 1

At the equinoxes, when the sun is exactly perpendicular to the equator, the day is exactly 12 hours long and the sun bears exactly east, at sunrise, and west, at sunset. The equinoxes are 22th March and 22th September.

Between the two, and in the summer half year in the north hemisphere, the sun rises more north from east and sets more north from west. The inverse is valid for the winter half year.

Where I live, in Oslo Norway, at the summer solstice (22 June) at latitude 60 north, the night is only six hours long. Further north, we have the midnight sun. At the north pole, there is one day of six months and one night of six months.

Answer 2

Yes, your observation is correct; the sun rises in the northeast and sets in the northwest during the summer. But saying that it is coming from Quebec and going to Alaska is very confusing and well, just wrong. The Sun is never in Quebec or Alaska because it is never on Earth.

And so it is not clear what you mean by "the line" that is not straight. There are no straight lines across the sky; it's perceived as a dome. The path of the Sun in the sky over the course of a day is a circle (some of which is below the horizon).

It also appears to me that you might be assuming that the Sun must pass vertically over your head each day. This is never true in Wisconsin, where the Sun is always directly south at local noon.

Answer 3

Yes, furthest NE & NW on June 21st.

The sun light direct ray is at the maximum northern Tropic of Cancer (23.5 degrees) at that time.

As for your friend, just show him a globe; let his eyes be the sun on the Tropic of Cancer as you rotate it.

The earth wobbles once on its axis every 26000 years; not during season changes.

Answer 4

You're correct, as long as you're talking about summer.  From points in the northern hemisphere, the sun always rises in the NE and sets in the NW from about March 20 to Sept. 21.  During the other half of the year (from about Sept. 21 to March 20), the sun rises in the SE and sets in the SW.  Is it possible that your friend was doing his observation during the winter?

Here's an excellent, online interactive 3-D demonstration that you can use to illustrate the sun's position as seen from anywhere on earth during various times of the year: ( http://astro.unl.edu/naap/motion3/animat... ).  That should settle the question for your friend.

Answer 5

Are you not aware that the earth WOBBLES on it's Axis as it rotates during the year and the horizon changes 23 !/2 DEGREES in a 12 month time.

This is just basic EARTH SCIENCE... almost grade school stuff.