The sky looks really different from near the equator! I was expecting that but it's still surprising how different it feels.
| The motion of the Sun across the sky so different! The Sun travels across the sky at 15 degrees per hour (that's true anywhere on Earth) but because it rises vertically from the horizon, it means it's completely dark less than one hour before sunrise and one hour after sunset. Dawn and dusk are much shorter periods! About 4 hours after sunrise (10am) the Sun is higher than it is in the middle of the UK summer. I'm here just before the autumn equinox and the Sun is directly overhead at midday. Almost no shadows anywhere - as you can see the photo. |
The moon follows a similar path across the sky. The big difference with moon is how it looks near moonrise:
The "horns" of the crescent are pointed down - that just doesn't happen from further north! Travelling from the UK to the equator (actually 10 degrees north) changes the angle at which things in the sky appear. The moon is rotated about 45 degrees to how it normally looks to me.
There are other subtle clues to being on the equator.....walking through the streets of Caracas I noticed that satellite dishes are all pointed at points very high in the sky. Satellites orbit the Earth above the equator so that's where the dishes also point.
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