I nearly didn’t bother taking any photos this morning, thinking it was another clear morning one, and not long after the last sunrise position of two days ago.
The misty line of cloud and PinkyOrangePurple colours persuaded me to start, and then I saw it was lighting up that builiding as it rose; giving it another unique view.
Tag Archives: Leeds
EQUINOX+1: later Sunrise travels south for one week more…
The sun is rising over Leeds again (how it looks to us, although really it’s the way our planet orbits the sun), like it was in the early March photos; making the return journey!
From our viewpoint the sunrise is now heading back southwards on the horizon, reaching its most southerly point around midwinter (around December 21st). While that is the positive that inspired the mistYmuse (Most Ideal Sunrise Time – Midwinter Until Spring Equinox), really it’s our planet’s tilt pointing the north away from the sun, so we have less sun time: seeing it later and for less time on our planet’s spin, creating short days and long nights.
Our planet’s axis doesn’t change it’s position; doesn’t bank around corners like a bike: it is more like an inflexible rigid stick flying around a circle; so half the year south is faced more towards the sun, and the other half it is the north, changing at the equinoxes, giving each half a summer and winter.
The Earth at northern hemisphere Midsummer about four months ago:
You can see where it is now at The Planets Today. Seeing today’s image reminded me there was also a beautiful slither of moon visible, with Venus above it dazzling in the sky blue.
At the height of summer (around June 21st), the sun on my horizon was out of sight to the north, and very early in the morning. While that seems negative, in fact it’s just that our planet’s tilt is tipped in the sun’s direction, meaning we see it earlier on our horizon (our planet spinning around): like looking around a corner before reaching it.
So there are pros and cons, positives and negatives, and that’s why I created the mistYmuse: to celebrate the positives at a time of year that is considered the most difficult in the north; especially in the UK, where we don’t have Thanksgiving to celebrate at the end of November like in the USA, filling the gap after Halloween/Bonfire Night.
Next week it is False Dawn Week, when sunrise times are at their latest before the clocks go back in the UK.
yggdrasil and asgard?
Ash tree and mountain clouds anyway, a few hours after a heavy thunder, lightning, rain and hail storm cleared the air.
Fatboy Slim Closes mistYmuse 2019/20
We’re overtime on mistYmuse 2019/20 now, as we started early in October last year – it runs for the traditionally toughest four months of the year weather-wise, and puts a good spin on it by focusing on the late sunrises in the first two months, and increasing light in the second half.
British Summer Time to GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) / UTC (Coordinated Universal Time)
In October the sunrises seemed to be getting towards the late sunrise times of mid-December, which are ideal for the start of most people’s days, being between 8-9am across the UK; as well as giving more darkness for sleep.
As I wrote in a blog here on fmpoetry (October 22nd), focusing on the Leeds time, mistYmuse central!:
‘The sunrise times will reach their BST late peak on Saturday October 26th at 07.53, and with the clocks going back to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)/(UTC) overnight, they’ll go back to 06.55 – back earlier than the sunrise time of September 25th (06.56).
They’ll continue getting later a couple of minutes a day, and will reach Saturday’s sunrise time of 07.53 again just over a month later on November 27th.’
GMT/UTC to BST
Now, in contrast, we changed from GMT/UTC to BST last week, moving the clocks forward an hour from 05.48 on the 28th March, to 06. 45 on the 29th March; with the three minutes difference the normal process for this time of year.
The sunrises (really the time when we can see the sun, due to our planet’s axis tilt and orbit around our star, according to astronomy) continue getting about three minutes earlier (as if we’re climbing a stairs in a skyscraper for a better view, with each day a step).
As it took just under a month to get back to the time before the hour clock change in October/November, it will reach the March 28th/29th time of 05.48 over the 22nd to 23rd April: 5.49 to 5.46.
So enjoy the darker mornings and later sunrises this month, and for all those who’ve completed mistYmuse 2019/20 I praise you! (it seems a long time since Scooter opened it!!):
Try not to look directly at the sun; or spend too much time in front of screens.. and avoid groomers and covid like the plague!
Looking on the bright side, I read there’s a bright new comet in the sky that should be visible to the naked eye soon…
New POP Art Spring Equinox Photos
mistYmuse ended on Equinox in unplanned and unseen when taking photos (but no colour changing of the photos; only editing is one cropped) new POP (PinkyOrangePurple) art, mirroring the greenYgrey world:
If anybody is still unsure about coronavirus, and how to avoid it, I’ve been following it quite closely on the news, so please ask me questions if you have any.
I’m trying to tread the greenYgrey line there between being helpful and looking like I’m doing PR!
The books that ended the greenYgrey(era):
Pyramids’ Orion’s Belt Inspiration Accidental Art
3 equinox photos focused on sun; at the start accidental, then intentional; when placed in time order (6.16, 6.18 and 6.19), with no previous planning, reminded me of the theory that Orion’s Belt inspired the positioning of the great pyramids in Mexico, China and Egypt (photo link):
It’s only a theory, that I only know a little about, from a few documentaries and websites, and that has been debated by much more knowledgeable on the matter people than me. Here’s the photos:
I became aware (then a-were!) of one of the most prominent experts, Graham Hancock; on BBC breakfast news promoting his new book at the time; while writing XaW Files, and included a reference to him. He works outside mainstream science, providing himself with more freedom, but also therefore criticism as a ‘pseudo-scientist’, and criticism online after publishing rather than by academic peers before.
Sun Rising Spring Equinox in Leeds Photos
Sunrise quote by a better runner than me, followed by a few of my sunrise photos from the Leeds spring equinox, from pre to post, and then my books, that also celebrated twilight times, and tried to create a better UK and world, following Scandinavia’s green example:
“Why run? I run because I am an animal. I run because it is part of my genetic wiring. I run because millions of years of evolution have left me programmed to run. And finally, I run because there’s no better way to see the sun rise and set… What the years have shown me is that running clarifies the thinking process as well as purifies the body. I think best – most broadly and most fully – when I am running.” ~ Amby Burfoot
Spring Equinox Leeds Photos and Ancient Astronomy Update
Earlier in the month I posted about using buildings on the Leeds skyline to show how the sunrise can be seen seeming to move northwards after the Winter Solstice in the northern hemisphere; perhaps like ancient astronomers did at henges around the world.
The sunrise is apparently really about our axis tilt and orbit around the sun. We are seeing it earlier now in the north because our half of the planet is pointed towards the sun. The tilt stays the same all year around; unlike a motorbike racer going around a circuit, always keeping their head leaning inwards at corners.
Last time I wrote how the sun had moved from south of two iconic buildings to the centre of them over the course of five days, and the sunrise was ten minutes earlier: from 6.51 to 6.41.
2nd March, sunrise at 6.51
6th March, sunrise at 6.41: 
Now, a fortnight later, on the spring equinox, the ‘sunrise’ has moved much farther north on the horizon, with those two buildings now towards the far right of today’s photo. The sunrise is also thirty-four minutes earlier at 6.07:
20th March, sunrise at 6.07: 
I took lots more photos this morning and will post them soon. It’s been a long day! Great in the sky, but difficult on Earth (in the news!).
Ancient Astronomical Sunrise Research using Leeds City Buildings
Comparing today and Monday’s photos you can see how the sun has moved north on the horizon, as it appears to us, into the centre of the two buildings it was previously to the right of, as we look at them; but apparently it’s because of our Earth’s axis tilt and orbit of the sun allowing us to see it earlier: ten minutes earlier, from 06.51 to 06.41.
Sunrise Times and Monthly Differences Update
Another month of mistYmuse 2019/20 (#mYm2020) another hour earlier for the sunrise – now in Leeds on the last day of February, the 29th in this leap year, at 06.55. Dropping below the 7am mark after the end of January saw it fall under the 8am mark.
It is about 90 minutes earlier than the latest sunrise of the winter at 08.24, which included December 31st. An hour of that increase has been this month, after only half an hour in January.
Likewise, in the other direction, sunset is at 17.52, over an hour later than the end of last month at 16.44. January had seen an increase of 50 minutes, from 15.54.
So that’s an increase of over two hours of light during February. Sunrise and sunset are really the Earth’s rotation bringing where you live on the planet back around to face the sun, and then away from it, as it takes 24 hours to rotate, giving us day and night.
Unfortunately, a few storms and other rain have flooded many parts of the UK. The mistYmuse is a festival of light, putting a positive spin on the traditionally most difficult four months of the year in the UK and northern hemisphere, so some bad weather is expected. I know it won’t provide any support for those physically affected by adverse weather.
I started the greenYgrey after seeing such floods already, as in 2000, and listening to warnings about likely affects of climate change. I don’t know if it is climate change, but it looks like what they predicted.
mistYmuse 