22 September 2009 by Tristan Gooley
At eighteen minutes past ten tonight, neither the north pole nor the south will be pointing towards or away from the sun and the sun will be overhead the equator. It is the autumnal equinox and the sun will spend the next six months overhead the southern hemisphere. During this time it will rise south of east and set south of west.
To celebrate this I headed up to one of my favourite spots last night, Halnaker Windmill, and took this photo. The clouds and light were doing extraordinary things, one of which I am still investigating and will hopefully be able to reveal more about.
Tags: autumnal equinox, halnaker windmill, southern hemisphere, sun |
10 July 2009 by Tristan Gooley
I took this picture looking south over Halnaker Hill, the windmill can just be seen poking out at the top. On my outdoor courses I sometimes stop early on and ask people to give me as many clues to direction as possible. Quite often this leads to much frenzied studying of lichens and branches and lots of good ideas. More often than not I find myself having to point out a big one. ‘What’s the biggest clue you can see?’ Some might say the shape of the land, but very few spot the coast itself. If visibility is poor I resist the urge to borrow from a Mr Basil Fawlty and say, ‘It’s there between the land and sky.’
Tags: clues to direction, coast, courses, Halnaker hill, halnaker windmill, lichen |
