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What causes the seasons



 
 
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Old June 27th 10, 11:15 AM posted to uk.sci.astronomy
oriel36[_2_]
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Default What causes the seasons

Traditionally,the seasons were explained using a vague reference to
'tilt' as though the orientation of the Earth to the Sun was
responsible for temperature fluctuations at different latitudes.

The actual cause of the seasons and a suitable explanation reflecting
the planetary dynamics behind these changes is quite different and
requires the isolation of daily and orbital characteristics.This is
achieved by focusing on the planet's two daylight/darkness cycles and
the individual cause of each insofar as we experience the daily
daylight/darkness cycle due to daily rotation and the entirely
separate polar daylight/darkness cycle where ,after a brief twilight
period at the orbital point of the equinoxes,6 months of darkness
turns into 6 months of daylight and visa versa.

The polar coordinates,where daily rotation is absent or residual,pass
through the circle of illumination at the equinoxes and these polar
coordinates act like a beacon for the orbital behavior of the Earth
insofar as aside from daily rotation,all locations on the planet would
experience a single daylight/darkness cycle as our planet,moving along
its orbital circumference turns through 360 degrees to the central Sun
over the course of an annual orbit.It takes a broom handle to
substitute for daily rotation and its orientation and any object to
act as the central Sun to imitate the orbital behavior of the Earth
by walking around/orbiting the central object/Sun.The broom
handle ,again,acting for 'tilt',only provides a window into the
orbital behavior of the Earth as a person must walk backwards in
circling the object,sometimes crabbing sideways before walking
forwards in completing a circuit.As a person will observe that
different parts of their body face the central object at different
points from an orbital line perpendicular to the central object/Sun,
like a separate longitudinal motion that runs from a line from Arctic
circle down to Antarctic circle rather than the traditional view of
referencing axial 'tilt' or inclination to the Sun.

In short,an additional piece of information is required to explain the
seasons or why natural noon cycles vary when allied with daily
rotation and the most suitable route is through acknowledging the
planet's two daylight/darkness cycle with the explanation for the
latter strictly an orbital characteristic.I do not have to remind
readers that the inability to explain the polar daylight/darkness
cycle is not that much more difficult than explaining the daily
daylight/darkness cycle due to daily rotation so people have now a
gauge as to how astronomically intuitive they are .

Once an astronomer sees the polar twilight sandwiched between polar
daylight and polar darkness in terms of the passage of the polar
coordinates through the circle of illumination they will be unable to
work with 'tilt' as the cause,the role of 'tilt' goes into determining
whether a planet has a largely equatorial climate like the Earth or a
polar climate such as Uranus which has unique axial orientation.

 




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