Sunrise and sunset times over London for the next 6 weeks (earliest sunset and latest sunrise are about 3 weeks apart) [OC]

51

u/Mkwdr Nov 30 '22

So … hold on a sec. Am I reading this right. The sun doesn’t always rise later , and set earlier proportionately as the day lengths change and then swap after the longest night ! At some points it’s rising later but also starting to set later… Should I have known this! TIL

32

u/Biffsbuttcheeks Nov 30 '22

It's my favorite little Trivia fact: the shortest day of the year has neither the latest sunrise nor earliest sunset!

5

u/Snoo-68602 Nov 30 '22

Oh I will soooooo use this !!!

13

u/felagund Nov 30 '22

Yes, you're right. It has to do with two factors: the earth's axial tilt and its elliptical orbit. See here. EDIT: "should" you have known this? Probably not. But now you do!

5

u/Mkwdr Nov 30 '22

That's interesting. It never even crossed my mind before. Thanks.

5

u/x888x Nov 30 '22

Makes it even crazier that our ancestors were able to pinpoint the solstices thousands of years ago.

1

u/rfresa Dec 01 '22

Most likely they used a sundial and measured the shadow of the post every day. It wouldn't be too hard to figure out when it was the longest and shortest.

2

u/GetTheFalkOut Nov 30 '22

I only learned recently but it would have been helpful to know for winter disc golf

14

u/neilrkaye OC: 231 Nov 30 '22

Created using data made with suncalc package in R using ggplot and animated in ffmpeg.

4

u/KaladinInSkyrim Nov 30 '22

Do you have the source code pushed somewhere?

2

u/janhetjoch Nov 30 '22

Instructions unclear, pushed pc with code of desk

5

u/HiSpartacusImDad Nov 30 '22

You coded your desk?!

2

u/x888x Nov 30 '22

Shouldn't your degrees be swapped? Solar angle is measured from 90°. At the equator on the solstice solar angle is 0°. But because of the latitude here the minimum is 15°.

I could be wrong but that's my understanding

6

u/OldDirtyRobot Nov 30 '22

The only reason we are able to reliably predict this is because the earth is flat and the sun is an illusion.

5

u/tsigalko11 Nov 30 '22

Very interesting, nice work.

I wanted to collect sunrise, sunset, temperature, and data like that, for several cities, just like a pet project.

Which open/free API would you recommend for doing this?

4

u/Skeeter1020 Nov 30 '22

I bloody knew I wasn't imaging it when I thought that there was a period when the sunset got later but the sunrise was also still getting later!

4

u/d00mz Nov 30 '22

I'd love to be able to punch in a long/lat and see the data for that location.

7

u/warren_stupidity Nov 30 '22

We should all go back to solar local time and let the computers deal with the conversions. Time zones are a 19th century solution.

6

u/MrMitchWeaver Nov 30 '22

Why would you symbolize dusk as yellow and midday as blue? Baffling decision.

5

u/EdvinM Nov 30 '22

The Sun is already on the graph, so you can think of the background color as blue sky during the day and yellowish during sunset and sunrise.^{cue cloudy weather joke}

1

u/Xazbot Nov 30 '22

My favourite sex position is Standing at the edge of a crag looking at the sea...

Where sheeps' pushbacks are so strong One can't even bend the knee

1

u/chicagotim1 Nov 30 '22

At first I thought this was a monthly trend and not a daily one, and I was like "They get that little sunlight year round?!"

1

u/Stock_Percentage_393 Nov 30 '22

I'd gladly conclude that some days are longer than 24 hours.

1

u/OldHobbitsDieHard Dec 01 '22

Hmm the curve is very misleading.

1

u/AV8R_1951 Dec 02 '22

Beautiful job of correlating the data!

1

u/extod2 Dec 05 '22

I thought they would get less

1

u/flynntron007 Dec 20 '22

Very nice.

Curious if the specific time indicators have significance on the x axis?

Sunrise and sunset times over London for the next 6 weeks (earliest sunset and latest sunrise are about 3 weeks apart) [OC] OC