Sun-sational Fun Facts!

Did You Know???

That the sun's light takes 8 minutes to reach earth?Since it takes about 8 minutes for the light from the Sun to reach us, then when we point at where we see the Sun, we are actually pointing to where it was 8 minutes ago. If we could point to where it is, and not where it appears to be, how much further along its path would we be pointing? One sun width? Two sun widths? A half a sun width? In other words, how far does the Sun travel across our sky in 8 minutes (expressed in Sun-width units)? I figure that if you're on the equator at the equinox, then the sun will travel across the sky in 12 hours or 720 minutes. 720 divided by 8 minutes is 90. So if I break the entire path of the sun across the sky into 90 units, then each unit would represent the difference between appearance and actuality. But how much of the path of the sun in the sky is 1/90'th of the total? I don't know how big the 12 hour arc is.

By: Zookeeper - 2007-05-17 22:39:24