I can’t believe how busy today has been for me! A long day out at work and then a talk for the Astronomy Club. It was my quarterly “the sky in…” talk, with this one being themed for the Autumn.
Amusingly, my more Southern friends often comment about my Northern latitude (53.5°) and how little of the celestial sphere we see below the equator. It has a few side effects…
- We never see the bottom of the constellation Scorpius, we don’t see the tail of the Scorpion ever.
- In winter we get 7 hours 30 minutes of daylight, but on the other hand in mid summer we get 17 hours – that’s a nine and a half hour difference!
- In winter it never gets particularly bright – the sun rises just 13 degrees above the horizon.
- For two months of the year we don’t have night. In mid May we lose “night” and don’t get it back until the end of July.
So that’s a bit about where I live and the odd effects as you get further up the planet.
I always find dealing with extreme northern latitudes a pain in the ass. No night. Tape cardboard over the windows and portholes on my ships. At least you could see the icebergs, berry bits, and growlers in the water. Growlers were called that because that’s what they sounded like when you sailed through them. Loud and irritating. I found your latitude ideal for the magical lighting conditions for photography.
I don’t mind my latitude. It has it’s benefits.
Bergy bits, not berry bits. Bergy bits were large enough to hole your ship and possibly sink it.