THE SUN’S STAY IN THE NORTH.
Gilman, Ill.
To settle a dispute, state whether the sun stays north of the equator longer than it does south of it; and if so, why.
Young Reader.
Answer.—The earth’s orbit is not a perfect circle, but an ellipse with the sun in one of the foci, at a point on the long diameter of the orbit something more than a million miles from the center in the direction of perigee, or the place where the earth approaches nearest to the sun. In 1882 the sun was in perigee Dec. 31, and in apogee—the point furthest from the earth—on July 3. For several thousand years to come the perigee point will be south of the equator, as it has been for several thousand years past. As a consequence of this and because the earth moves more rapidly the nearer it gets to the sun, it takes it less time to travel through that part of its orbit south of the equator than through the portion north of it. In the year 1800 the sun was north of the equator seven days 16 hours and 51 minutes longer than it was south of it. The sun crossed the equator, coming north, March 21, 1882, at 12:02 o’clock at night, and crossed it on the return Sept. 22, 1882, at 10:29 o’clock p. m., an interval of 185 days 10 hours and 27 minutes. It reached the equator next on its return northward, March 20, 1883, at 5:39 o’clock p. m., an interval of 177 days 19 hours and 10 minutes. So that the northern hemisphere had a longer spring and summer than the southern hemisphere last year by seven days 15 hours and 27 seconds. The Brazilians and Terra del Fuegans may console themselves with the reflection that in about 6,000 years they will get even with us, and that in a little more than 12,000 years from now the sun will linger in the southern hemisphere a full week longer than in the northern.
AREA OF PALESTINE.
Osceola, Iowa.
What is the extent of Palestine? Where can I get a first-class map and geographical description of Palestine?