THE SOLSTICES (PDF-2088)

Some of you have asked what the solstices are physically, so pardon if this gets technical and too much like school. I try not to be technical in my blogs, but this is an exception. And I include some diagrams to help spell it out. Our Earth orbits the Sun in essentially a large circle that takes one year to go around. That one-year circle or orbit describes a horizontal plane around the Sun called the Ecliptic or Zodiac. Earth sits in the ecliptic like a spinning top. However, the Earth does not sit up in its orbit with its north pole pointing straight up toward the north pole of the ecliptic. Instead it is tilted in its orbit by about 23.5 degrees. Earth has a perpetual list or tilt.