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equinox

Tropic Of Cancer

December 3, 2010

Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow @universetoday on Twitter The Tropic of Cancer is the circle of latitude on the Earth that is the most northerly position at which the Sun may appear directly overhead at its zenith. It only happens once a year, at the June solstice. In the [...]

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Precession of the Equinoxes

November 7, 2010

When he was first compiling his famous star catalogue in the year 129 BCE the Greek astronomer Hipparchus noticed that the positions of the stars did not match up with the Babylonian measurements that he was consulting. According to these Chaldean records, the stars had shifted in a rather systematic way, which indicated to Hipparchus [...]

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Equinox

February 17, 2010

When is the time of the year when all places on the Earth have the same length of nighttime? During equinox, of course! The word ‘equinox’ actually comes from two Latin words, aequus (meaning equal) and nox (meaning night). Two equinoxes occur every year. One is called the vernal equinox, which takes place in March, [...]

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Vernal Equinox

February 12, 2010

Some believe that it is always warmer during daytime at the equator because the Sun is directly overhead at midday and is able to warm everything equally underneath it. In reality, there are only two instances in the entire year when the Sun can be directly above an area at the equator. One is the [...]

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