A weather and forecast conjunction alignment provided a cloudless sky for the first Kirkstallhenge unveiling, as the last post in the mistYmuse 20/21 encores.
The sunrise was a bit more northern than I thought, rising behind the second building, but that provided a nice shot as our planet span around a bit more, positioning our view of the sun between the buildings.
You’ve been a great crowd, and I’m sure the ancestors would be proud.
Low cloud on the horizon spoilt the central sunrise, but the sun did pop through the POP clouds a little afterwards. There’s always tomorrow… and the weather forecast’s good!
The ‘sunrise’ did make it just between the two buildings this morning, but should be more in the middle on Sunday and Monday, when it moves a degree from 71 to 70 ° ENE. it stays on 71 tomorrow.
With the sunrise scheduled for 6.03 (it would be 5.03 without BST), I thought it was rising behind the building it just got inside, as it was 6.15 when it appeared, and it had been lighting up the city centre buildings for a few minutes… reminding me of the now long ago mistYmuse mornings!
Three days ago it was at 73 ° ENE.
Nine days ago it was at 77 ° ENE.
This morning’s sunrise (really: our first sight of it) shows it’s nearly reached the first of two buildings. It should be in the middle of them in about three days, judging from how its moved from the two trees six days ago:
If there is an alignment of weather and awakening I hope to witness it, and bring you some photos…
I wasn’t expecting to see the sunrise this morning, but hadn’t remembered until seeing the sun that British Summer Time (BST) had started eleven days ago, requiring we turned time on an hour, meaning the sunrise also went on an hour, from 5.51 on the 27th to 6.48 (would’ve been 5.48, as first sight of the sun is about 2/3 minutes earlier per day) on the 28th.
Eleven days later, the ‘sunrise’ today was at 6.24. The ash tree (Yggdrasil) is now budding, and very popular with the birds!
Sun’s Journey Over A Month (Really it’s our orbital journey and changing view)
The ‘sunrise’ continues up the horizon though. Although it seems to be departing for me, earlier and nearly out of sight, for the northern hemisphere as a whole it is in fact more visible; earlier and for longer.
Comparing it to this photo from March 6th (last year, but it’s roughly the same every year) shows how much farther up the horizon it ‘rises’ over a month. This morning it rose between the two trees under ‘Yggdrasil’, where the arrow points.
The March equinox was yesterday and today is the end day of mistYmuse 20/21: four months after mYm 20/21 started, and five months after False Dawn Week! I hope it helped you through the traditionally toughest four or five months in the UK and northern hemisphere year.
This is one of three posts I hope to bring you today, bringing the biggest mistYmuse ever to a fireworks finale!
Ancient Astronomy Angle
I wasn’t awake for this morning’s sunrise, but wasn’t too bothered, as was for last year’s, and can see from this 20/3/20 photo how much the sun is further along the horizon from the three buildings it rose near on March 12th this year (as seen in photo below it).
March 20th:
March 12th:
On March 6th (last year), for the most iconic of mornings, the sun rose the other side of the three buildings:
On February 28th, this year, those three buildings are nearly out of the photo, and the hospital (circle above) becomes the next landmark;
On the 17th of February (last year) the sun was over the city centre, with the hospital (circled) nearly out of the photo. That tree has now been cut, exposing the pylon behind it.
A week earlier (on February 10th this year), it rose near the pylon, between the city centre and the south of the city across the River Aire:
On January 29th it had been below the city centre altogether.
Yesterday’s sunrise at 6.30 was a greenYgrey one:
Compared to Week and Fortnight Earlier
The sunrise (really: our first view of the sun as our planet spins) has now reached the last landmark on the Leeds panorama; three university buildings in the north of the city), a little more north than March 6th (taken last year: cranes to the north now gone. In this year’s photos, the tree has now grown to block that gap where sun rising!):
And a lot more than February 28th this year:
A year ago yesterday the photos below were taken, and comparing them to photos earlier in the week started the ancient astronomical angle to the mistYmuse.
mistYmuse 