Sunsets

THE MYSTERY OF SUNSETS

IST 6:26 PM 

Something was weird that day, she was taking a run like she always did. The atmosphere was warm yet breezy. Waking through a canopy of trees, suddenly something caught the bat of her eye.

She saw that the sun was setting. Well, that isn't very uncanny you might say but for her, it was surely a sight for sore eyes. She scurried her way past the dense jungle, just to find that the sun had already set.  

The next day she hurried her way past everything she had ever known and reached there well before time. She sat down staring at the sunset for a while and all of a sudden she realized that the sun had gone just in a fraction of a second. How is this even possible she wondered, remembering the time when she used to watch the sunrise, it always took considerable amounts of time.

She decided then and there that this would have to be her new venture. She went through each and every book that there ever was and well, THE ANSWER WAS OUT. She was actually right, the sun does set quicker than it rises. This is because the sun sets quicker near the equatorial region and comparatively slower in the poles. Especially on the equinox* (for almost every year, it occurs twice i.e. on March 20 and September 23), it is quite brisk as the sun and the horizon makes the steepest angle possible.

It's weird, isn't it? Also on the days of solstice*(twice every year i.e. December 21 and June 21), the sun sets at the slowest rate possible. This is because the earth's north pole is tilted the most towards the sun and so you'll probably be like it's been forever and the sun is still setting.

* Equinox are the days of the year when the length of day and night are roughly equal.

* There are 2 solstices throughout the year 

The summer solstice is the longest day of the year and

Winter solstice or the shortest day of the year.