At last the days will be starting to grow longer rather than shorter. This is a still screenshot from Archaeoastronamy.com who provides an interesting animated depiction of seasonal changes and cross-quarter celestial events.
Earth’s annual orbit is The Master Clock because the common yardstick of our lives is the year. Years are divided by the seasons just as calendars are segmented by months. Mechanical and digital timepieces measure intervals that split into hours, minutes and seconds each spin of our planet on its axis. Yet, it is the earth’s regular, rhythmic loop around the sun that standardizes our timeframe of reference, regardless of geographic distances separating us from our acquaintances or generational distances separating us from our ancestors.
This is really cool! I want to access this in the future.
Another solar marker I like is the annalemma, that “figure eight” on some globes. It shows how high or low the sun is in relation to the equator, and how far the sun leads or lags the clock on any given day.
I also find the analemma fascinating. Here’s a cool and informative site:
http://www.analemma.com/
Cool! Thanks, Cap’n!