Our sun is a star, a fiery ball of exploding hydrogen gas. Its thermo-nuclear reactions emit powerful forms of radiation, including potentially deadly ultraviolet and nuclear radiation, yet life here is nurtured by, and dependent upon, this searing energy source and change of seasons. However, there is a common misconception concerning Earth’s distance from the Sun, rather than the significance of the angle of gravitational pull. Today, “children and adults alike, even Harvard University graduates, have a hard time understanding ” the direction of Earth’s tilt with respect to the Sun cause the change in the seasons:
Spring Equinox
On the 21st or 22nd of March the Sun is over the equator. The equator receives the largest amount of solar radiation
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The equator receives the largest amount of solar radiation. On this day, the northern hemisphere is in the autumn equinox while the southern hemisphere is in the spring equinox and the angle of the Sun decreases toward the poles on this day. The two hemispheres receive a similar amount of solar radiation and the length of daytime and night is the same at all places on earth. After this day, it is autumn in the northern hemisphere where the day is shorter than the night.
Winter Solstice
On the 21st and 22nd of December the overhead son is over the tropic of Capricorn. It receives the largest amount of solar radiation, and the northern hemisphere is in the winter solstice while the southern hemisphere is in the summer solstice. The angle of the Sun decreases toward the poles. and the length of day in the northern hemisphere is the shortest day of the year. While the southern hemisphere is the shortest.
Interestingly, planets “Mercury and Jupiter have almost no tilt and as result have no seasons. And, one-day lasts 59 Earth days on Mercury, so on the sunlit side it’s hot while in the dark its freezing cold. Because Mercury’s orbit is not quite a circle, it gets even hotter on the day side when the planet is closer to the Sun. Whereas, Venus has a thick atmosphere and is always 900 degrees’ day and night, north and