Autumnal Equinox

The Autumnal Equinox occurred at 3:44 PM on GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) today September 22Th. The Autumnal Equinox occurs when the Sun crosses the line of the Equator, which splits the Northern and Southern hemispheres of the earth. That means for my time zone EST (Eastern Standard Time in the USA), which is -5 hours from GMT, it would have been 11:44 AM. We are now using EDT (Easter Daylight Time where we set the clocks ahead to get more daylight) so the Vernal Equinox actually occurred at 12:44 PM. It is the first day of Fall in the Northern Hemisphere. This word equinox comes from the Latin meaning Equal + Nights. This means the length of the day and the night are 12 hours long. This will slowly decrease as the days progress so we will have less daylight in the Northern hemisphere until the first day of Winter in December. Conversely the Southern Hemisphere will have more daylight until their first day of Summer. I made a post in December, The Change of Seasons, telling you the reason the tilt of the Earth causes the seasons to change. You can read my explanation of the happenings. I hope this helps with the understanding of the changing seasons. Does this mean we will have no more hot days in NE Ohio. Absolutely not, the seasons change slowly as the Sun makes its way South. We sometimes have a real hot September days but it doesn't last long. It will continue to get colder each week as the days go by. Fall has come, can snow be far behind, (tell me I didn't just say that)?

In honor of the first day of Fall I'm showing the beginning of the leaf change. Can you see the color appearing?
It's almost as if you can see the change happening slowly before your eyes.
It goes from green to yellows, orange and reds.
My wife is starting to decorate for the Halloween season in Fall, who doesn't know who this is?
The porch is ablaze with Mums, pumpkins and scarecrows.
We are ready for the cooling of the weather in our future.

Sky Watch Friday 4-4

If you would like to join Sky Watch Friday go to Wiggers World.


We had another grey week in NE Ohio except for one gorgeous day. My buddy at work said what is that blue color in the sky. I thought Sky Watch Friday.
The Cuyahoga River runs by a grain storage tower that I thought made a good focal point. I took this from the bridge above the river. This shot is from last weeks trip to the river.
Her is a view from an observation tower on the wing dam. You can check out some other pictures from this week on my Cuyahoga River post on the label below. You can click on the picture and see the flag in the wind.
This morning I snapped this picture to show the Moon waning into it's last eighth as the sun rose this morning. You can see it low on the horizon above the second house from the left if you click on the photo it's a little blurry. I took it hand held.

The Vernal Equinox

The Vernal Equinox occurred at 5:48 AM on GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) this morning March 20th. The Vernal Equinox occurs when the Sun crosses the line of the Equator, which splits the Northern and Southern hemispheres of the earth. That means for my time zone EST (Eastern Standard Time in the USA), which is -5 hours from GMT, it would have been 12:48 AM. We are now using EDT (Easter Daylight Time where we set the clocks ahead to get more daylight) so the Vernal Equinox actually occurred at 1:48 AM. That means it is the first day of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere. The reason the date is one day earlier this year is because it is a leap year which moved the happening forward by one day.

Vernal Equinox - This word comes from the Latin meaning Equal + Nights. This means the length of the day and the night are 12 hours long. This will slowly increase as the days progress so we will have more daylight in the Northern hemisphere until the first day of Summer in June. Conversely the Southern Hemisphere will have less daylight until their first day of winter. I made a post in December, The Change of Seasons, telling you the reason the tilt of the Earth causes the seasons to change. You can read my explanation of the happenings.

I hope this helps with the understanding of the changing seasons. Does this mean we will have no more snow in NE Ohio. Absolutely not, the seasons change slowly as the Sun males its way North. We sometime have a snow in April but the snow doesn't stay long. It will continue to get warmer each week as the days go by. Spring has sprung, can fishing be far behind?

3.14 its Pi Day in 2008

It's Pi Day and is celebrated at 1:59 PM today. Pi (π) Day was founded at MIT and is a celebration of the mathematical term Pi. It is approximately equal to 3.14159 and is used to calculate the area and circumference of a circle. The formulas are Area = Pi x radius squared
(A=πrsquared) and the circumference = 2 x Pi x radius or Pi x diameter (C=2πr = πd).

I bought my grandchildren a Boston Cream Pie last year and this year my oldest grandson asked for a Cherry Pie to celebrate the day. I will probably stop and see them on the way home.

Its just a fun way to celebrate the day. It is a geeky thing but being an engineer I guess I'm a little geeky. My daughter said last year that no one not in school knows what Pi is and I told her I use the term weekly.

I did buy a cherry pie to share with the grand kids. The youngest wanted a bite immediately.


So the formulae Pi R Squared is wrong, as you can plainly see Pie R round. LOL

Added Anna to my Artist Blog List

I had a visit from another great photographer to my artist list. It is Anna from Atlanta, GA. I really like her work and the sharing of her faith. She does a photo a day and has a great eye for she sees through the camera. You should visit the sight to see her work.

She has a great moon photograph from the eclipse on Wednesday night.

Here is a progressive photo from our local newspaper showing the Lunar eclipse. It says the next eclipse will be 0n 12/21/2010. I hope you saw this one.

Eclipse of the Moon

We had a total Lunar Eclipse in NE Ohio tonight. This picture was about 15 minutes before there was a total eclipse which shaded the Moon from shining. It was a great night for pictures with no clouds.
How many of you know how an eclipse of the Moon happens? The first thing you have to understand is where the Moon gets the light to shine toward the earth. The light comes completely from the Sun. The Sun shines its light toward the Moon and the Moon reflects the Suns light back to the Earth. An eclipse happens when the Earth passes between the Sun and the Moon. The Earth shadows the Sun from shining on the part of the Moon. You are actually seeing a portion of the earths shadow on the Moon.

The Change of Seasons

Did you ever wonder why we have the changing seasons in North and South America. If you did I will try to give a simple as possible scientific explanation of what is happening.

The Earth is in constant motion. It is spinning on it's axis which is tilted at 23.5 degrees. It turns one rotation in 24 hours so you are facing the Sun for approximately 12 hours a day. The earth is also rotating around the Sun. It keeps a circular motion around the Sun because of the gravitational pull of the Sun on the Earth. It takes a year for the earth to travel around the Sun. The circular motion and the tilt is what causes the change of seasons.

We have four main position in relationship to the Sun. In the spring (March 21 this year) you have what is called the Vernal Equinox. The Sun shines on the earth and the tilt of the Earth is of no effect. The Sun shines on the Northern and Southern Hemispheres equally. This is the beginning of Spring.

As the earth continues around the Sun the tilt of the earth comes into effect and as the earth moves 1/4 of the way around the sun until the earth's tilt is at 23.5 degrees and the Sun shines more on the Northern Hemisphere. This takes place on the first day of Summer (June 21 this year) at the Summer Solstice. This is the beginning of Summer. This is the longest day of the year for us.

The Earth then continues 1/2 of the way around the Sun. In the Fall (September 23 this year) you have what is call the Autumnal Equinox. The Sun shines on the earth and the the tilt of the Earth again has no effect. The Sun shines on the Northern and Southern Hemispheres of the earth equally. This is the beginning of Fall.

As the earth continues around the Sun the tilt of the earth comes into effect and the earth moves 3/4 of the way around the Sun until the earth's tilt is at 23.5 degrees and the Sun shines more on the Southern Hemisphere. This takes place on the first day of Winter (December 22 this year) at the Winter Solstice. This is the beginning of Winter. This is the shortest day of the year for us.

The earth continues the final 1/4 of the way around the Sun and the cycle is ready to begin again. The Southern Hemisphere is going into Summer now as we go into Winter. This should explain the changing seasons throughout the year.