Why do sunrise and sunset times change

There is more change at the equinoxes. At those times the day-to-day changes can be a few minutes. The day length is changing fastest at the equinoxes.

Consider the percentage change — the change in day length from the previous day divided by the length of day on that day. That can give the impression of how quickly we lose daylight. The shortening of the length of day in terms of percentage change is at its peak in late October and early November around our latitude. The Weather Guys. Skip to content. A quick glance at an astronomical almanac or a calendar showing sunrise and sunset times reveals that these do not change evenly.

While the Sun rises only a little earlier every day at the beginning of the year, it sets noticeably later every evening. The larger size is caused by a refraction of light when the moon is at the horizon because the light has to pass through greater amounts of atmosphere to reach you compared to when it is overhead.

The same is true of the setting sun. The Sun looks bigger than other stars because it is so much closer to the Earth. The further away an object is, the smaller it appears, even if it is very big. The sun has to travel further to reach our eyes, so the blue and violet light is scattered even more when there are added particles in the atmosphere. Red and oranges then reach our eyes and make for a beautiful sight. The moon always occupies roughly 0. When the Moon is high, the clouds it is against are closer to the viewer and appear larger.

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