Summer Solstice at the Sun Triangle

Session name: 20080620.1230

Friday marked the day of the beginning of the summer - "Happy Solstice!"
A beautiful warm first summer day with scattered fair weather cumulus clouds sauntering across a pale blue canvas. Our Sun was a punch on that background sky, at times glaring, and the air was a little hazy.

Ritual...

Sun sighted along the summer solstice side of the Sun triangle.


A few assemble and realize the significance of Athelstan Spilhaus' Sun Triangle. Some celebrate with regularity.

20070320 - Vernal Equinox arrives & people congregate at Sun Triangle

I met Charlie for lunch time to observe the Vernal Equinox alignment of the Sun Triangle at McGraw-Hill. A small crowd of people assembled to witness the shadow event and get the first hand feeling of astronomy. The atmosphere was lively and the weather was agreeable.

Minutes prior to local noon.

The alignment.

Assembly gets excited. Charlie photographs the shadow tip at high noon relative to the gnomon. Do the people know they're gnomons, too?

Another shot of the Spring Equinox alignment party.

Return to normalcy.

20 March, Solar Noon - Vernal Equinox

The Sun Triangle at 49th & 6th Ave.

In Universal Time (UT), Vernal Equinox occurs, Wednesday, 21 March 2007 at 7 minutes past midnight in the Age of Pisces. For NY'ers, we adjust for Eastern Daylight savings Time (EDT) 4 hours earlier, resulting with the Equinox on 20 March 2007, 8:07pm EDT. (This standard time is estimated as I don't account for local mean solar time.)

If you want to celebrate the event in some festive way, gather at the McGraw-Hill Sun Triangle just before 1:00pm on Tuesday, the 2oth, to watch the Triangle's shadow shorten and the Sun align along the upper long side. Almost certainly there will be others that share this interest and welcome the arrival of Spring. (We recognize this date as Spring, but if you are south of the equator like astroblogger Ian, one recognizes Fall. )


Mapping info to find the Sun Triangle
Microsoft Live Local: Bird's Eye View || Aerial
Google Map: Hybrid
Great Buildings: McGraw-Hill Building