The Southern Sky

When we were looking at flats last year, one phrase was used more than just about any other: 'South-facing'. Be it a South-facing window to a living room or bedroom, a South-facing garden, or a South-facing conservatory, the phrase was used a lot, and in real estate in this town, not only is it about location, location, location, but also direction, direction, direction.

I was in a conversation with someone who lives in the US Pacific Northwest and mentioned how I had survived another dark winter. The response I got was 'Have you ever spent winter in Seattle?' I'm guessing they were thinking that a winter in Seattle is darker than one in Edinburgh - that would be a very incorrect assumption, if that was what they were thinking.

As I've written before, Edinburgh is significantly further north than any of the lower 48 states of the US. To get an idea of just how far north we are, look at the map below. Point B is Grand Prairie, Canada  - we (Point A) are slightly further north than Grand Prairie.

In my time living here, I've become fascinated by how our latitude affects things. The amount of light in the summer, and the lack of it in the winter are the most obvious, but there is more that one doesn't necessarily notice, if they visit here for just a week or two, on their summer vacation.

Last Summer, the Lews were visiting us. They had just come from South-East Asia. Lauren's dad mentioned how the satellite dishes were pointed here, as compared to where they had just been a few weeks earlier. Near the equator, satellite dishes are pointed straight up. In Edinburgh, they are all just a bit above being horizontal, and all pointing South, of course. I never even thought of that, until he pointed it out.

During the winters, the sun creeps up and down, in the southern sky. I've spent winters in Maryland, Michigan, and Illinois, and I never noticed that the sun was particularly in the South. You can't help but notice it where we live now, as Arthur's Seat casts a very long shadow over it's north (where we live) that's there for the entire day.

I took this picture back in November, or early December, at 1 pm in the afternoon. I was walking home, heading North, as Arthur's Seat cast its shadow over the northern base of Holyrood Park:

I've heard people talk about (but haven't personally experienced) driving in the 'winter sun' because, when it's actually up, it's at the worst possible level for glare, and is blinding if you're headed south. For this reason, and that's it's pitch dark by 4 pm, I put off taking driving lessons all winter, and will start in the next few weeks.

During the summers, the sun creeps slowly across the sky (not the Northern-sky, but just sort of the centre of the sky). In June, when the sun rises at about 4:30 am and sets at about 10 pm, it feels like it's never dark. I remember waking up in the middle of 'night' one summer, at about 2 am, looking outside and it looked like I could get around without needing extra light.

No one seems to care too much about the Southern-sky in the summer. It's light so much, you don't really care where the sun is.

Because of where we live, just north of Arthur's Seat, the way the sun creates light and shadows has really fascinated me over the past year. So much so, that I wanted to document it somehow. On the 7th of February, I started taking an almost-daily picture, at about the same time (I take it on my walk to work, so there are some Saturdays and Sundays missing, and once I forgot my camera). 

I chose to take a picture of the Scottish Parliament. I need to pass by it on my walk to work on my way to work every day so that made it an easy target. Also, there is more to see in the Parliament building than something like a hill or something in nature - I just think there is a lot going on with this building - sunlight and weather can really change the look of the building.

I started this because I wanted to see how the sun would change over the months, but didn't think of two things when I started this 'project'.

First, unlike Philadelphia, it's not always sunny in Edinburgh. Although this has affected my sun project, it does give an idea of how much the constant changes in weather changes the look, and feel, of the city.

The second thing, which my father reminded me of, is that we are going to be changing our clocks at the end of March. By setting our clocks forward, we are, in a way, 'setting' the sun back by an hour. The sun's angle when I take the picture on 1st April will look like it was taken about hour earlier than the picture I take on 29th March.

Between this time change thing, the weather, and possible travel plans that will cause breaks in my daily photos, my pictures might not show the best illustration of how the sun changes as it moves from the Southern sky to the centre of the sky, but I still think it's an interesting project, and I plan to keep it going.

Because I plan on continuing this, if you come back to this blog post in a month or two, there should be more pictures (if I embedded the slide show correctly).