Surely many times you have wanted to orient yourself and have looked where the sun rises. Since childhood you have always been told that the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Also, there have always been some signs of it in western movies. This typical orange sunset with the huge Sun falling over the horizon line is characteristic of the sunset. However, the sunrise and sunset vary greatly depending on where you are. Where does the Sun really rise?
In this post we are going to tell you everything you need to know about it and you will be able to teach yourself to position yourself much better by guiding you from our biggest star. Do you want to know more about the subject? Read on to find out everything.
The Sun in ancient civilizations
Our great star of the Solar system it is fixed in the Universe. However, from a terrestrial point of view, it is he who seems to move since, throughout the day, it changes its position. The movement of an object occurs with respect to an observer. For this reason, since ancient civilizations it was thought that it was the Sun that moved and not the Earth.
There are numerous civilizations that, since ancient times, have placed a special veneration on the elements of nature. In most of them, the sun was the most acclaimed element of all, as it illuminated our lands and gave light to the crops. The study of its movements has served to create ancient clocks in which the hours were based on the position of the sun in the sky at the end of the day.
This is how the position of the Sun and the behavior of the days were investigated. Nowadays, we know that the number of hours of daylight that we have varies between the seasons. This is due to the movements of rotation, translation and nutation of the Earth. In addition, what really affects us to heat and cold is the inclination with which the sun's rays strike the Earth's surface and not the distance between the Earth and the star.
This has always puzzled scientists, until it was later discovered that it was the Earth that moved, not the Sun. However, where does the Sun rise and set? Depending on the observer's position, can it change or is it an infallible option to guide and orient us?
Cardinal points
Darkness has always been associated with evil and negative behavior. Therefore, the sun has been studied since ancient civilizations. They have always wondered where the sun rises. However, although it may seem logical, it isn't.
This is where the function comes in the Cardinal points. It is a reference system that helps us guide ourselves on a map and know how to orient ourselves at all times. These cardinal points have been standardized internationally, so that they are the same for everyone. These world-standardized cardinal points are: North, South, East and West.
Theoretically, the sun rises in the East and sets in the West. We have heard this say millions of times from millions of people. If we are lost in the middle of a field, surely someone will have said "the Sun rises in the East and sets in the West." However, it is not so easy to know, since there are some inconsistencies that will make us doubt this statement. Furthermore, it is interesting to observe how the behavior of the sun and its energy can be related to the geoinformation of our environment.
Where does the sun really rise
It's important to know that the sun rises in the east, as is always said, but it only does so twice a year. This is because the Earth's tilt and its rotational and translational movements cause the cardinal points where the sun rises to shift. they are not always in the same place.
When we say it sets in the West, it will happen the same way as in the East. It only rises twice a year. This relates to what we mentioned earlier about the length of days throughout the seasons. Depending on the inclination at which the Sun's rays reach the Earth's surface and the Earth's translational motion at a given moment in its orbit, the Sun will rise closer to the cardinal point East or not. It only does this exactly twice a year, during the spring and autumn equinoxes.
These are the moments when the Earth is aligned with the Sun in such a way that its rays can perfectly rise in the East and set in the West. In this sense, the sunlight phenomena They can also be useful to better understand this phenomenon.
The importance of the equinoxes and solstices
In order to know the sunrise and sunset, the equinoxes and solstices are very important elements. During the spring and fall equinoxes They are the only two moments in which the sun's rays reach us as perpendicularly as possible. to the earth's surface. On the other hand, during the solstices, we can see that we have the rays more inclined than ever.
These factors are taken into account to know the number of hours of sunshine that we will have throughout a day and at the end of the seasons. For this reason, it is important to fix the cardinal points and to know well the position of the Earth with respect to the Sun in its orbit of translation to know exactly where the Sun will rise.
During the rest of the year other than the equinoxes, the Sun rises somewhat further north in spring and summer, while in the months colder fall and winter will come out a little more south-facing. In this way, understanding the behavior of the Sun in our environment is related to the study of the free will and the Earth's energy balanceAs you can see, not everything is black and white when it comes to astronomy. It's not possible to correctly state that the sun rises in the east or sets in the west. So, to guide us in the countryside, we can use other, more reliable signs or wait until the periods are very close to the equinoxes.