Hi Jim,
Just a quick comment. I notice that earlier you said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by j.skett
Now I need to work on understanding why the Sun comes up in the SE and sets in the NW during Perth's summer.
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Is this part of your confusion, or is it a typo? The sun rise in the SE and sets in the SW (not NW) in Perth's summer...
Have you tried using Stellarium yet? If you open it, set your location and hit the "e" button. It will then show the projected latitude and longitude lines. Just imagine we are inside a big ball made out of these lines: the axis of the ball goes through the N and S poles. If you follow the line the sun is sitting on at any give date you will see how it crosses the sky, and where it rises and sets. (Remember, we are the ones in the "ball": not the sun- so as the "ball" rotates around its axis, the sun and stars stay on the same latitude line each day- and during the year the sun "moves" between the latitude lines of (approx) 23N and 23 S because our axis is tipped over as we go around the sun each year. The axis always points towards the same point of the sky as the earth moves around the sun (
PS: nobody say anything about precession please: that just confuses the issue!), and the southern side of the earth is now "tipping" towards the sun for our summer, so the sun appears to be moving south to the southern latitude lines...)
Have fun!
Dean