Angle of rising sun

[5of7]

Hi folks, I am new here and I just thought that some of you might be able to help me with a question.

I live at 43 at degrees North latitude and at the time of the winter solstice, it looks like the sun rises farther south than 23.5 degrees.

Can someone clear this up for my, or is it just my imagination at work.  Thanks in advance for any help.

5 

[JamesF]

Just to clarify, do you mean that it looks like the Sun rises higher than 23.5 degrees in the sky at local noon?

James

[Stu]

This is what Skysafari has to say for a location 43 degrees North but on the meridian. What is your longitude?

[PhotoGav]

As in it rises more than 23.5° south of due East? If so, absolutely, it will rise over 40° south of due East. It’s amazing that the difference between max north and max south rise point is nigh on 90°. And people think that the Sun rises in the East and sets in the West.... true only twice a year!!!

[JamesF]

27 minutes ago, JamesF said:

Just to clarify, do you mean that it looks like the Sun rises higher than 23.5 degrees in the sky at local noon?

Doing the maths, I think you must.  In which case I think it's your imagination at work

If the axis of the Earth's rotation were perpendicular to the plane of its orbit then the Sun would appear to reach an angle of ( 90 - observer's latitude ) at local noon, so at the poles it would be on the horizon, overhead at the equator and so on.  But the Earth's axis is (currently) at 23.5 degrees to the horizontal and tilted away from the Sun for us northern hemisphere dwellers, so you need to reduce the angle by that amount more.  So for me it would be 90 - 51 - 23.5 = 15 degrees, and for you 90 - 43 - 23.5 = 23.5 degrees.

Running Stellarium with the azimuth grid enabled, facing south and setting the date to noon (a few minutes past, in fact, for my local noon) on 21st December does indeed show the 15 degree line cutting through the Sun.  If I set the location to Marseille in France, which is close to 43N then the Sun does indeed appear to reach pretty close to 23.5 degrees at local noon.

James

[JamesF]

2 minutes ago, PhotoGav said:

As in it rises more than 23.5° south of due East? If so, absolutely, it will rise over 40° south of due East. It’s amazing that the difference between max north and max south rise point is nigh on 90°. And people think that the Sun rises in the East and sets in the West.... true only twice a year!!!

That was the other possible interpretation that had struck me.  I'm sure it's possible to work out exactly where it should rise in terms of a compass bearing, but I've worn my brain out for today now

James

[PhotoGav]

We will wait and see what 5of7 has to say...

[5of7]

OK, to clarify:  I am referring to the angle between due East and the point at which the sun appears on the horizon.  This is, by the way, is  flat country where I live.

Just by appearances, that angle appears to be greater than 23.5 °.  My thought was that since our N. latitude is 43° it might be more than the 23.5° due to the tilt of the earth relative to the plane of the orbit around the sun.  Did I suppose correctly, or did I err in my thinking.

[JamesF]

What makes you think that angle should be 23.5 degrees?

James

[5of7]

Thanks to all.  That about covers my question.?