English is not my firet language so im sorry if i do not explain myself clearly but i Will try
was Reading about the Sun Yesterday and read that that yesterday The Sun could be observed looking in the West-South-West direction
My question is what does that mean that the sun could be observed in the West South West direction? Does that mean that the sun rose from the West or that it rose from the east and moved towards the West?
In: Planetary Science
Southwest is the compass direction halfway between due (exact) south and due west.
West southwest is the direction halfway between southwest and due west – so, 22.5 degrees anticlockwise from due west (67.5 degrees clockwise from due south).
Seen from above the North Pole, the Earth spins anticlockwise. The Sun seems to “rise” in the approximate East every day as the spin moves each of us round from the dark side to the light one. Hours later, the spin carries us round and back into darkness, by which time the Sun is off to the approximate West, and it “sets”.
The Earth’s axis isn’t straight up and down relative to its orbit. If it was, seen from the equator at least, the Earth’s rotation would make it always seem to rise exactly in the east, and set exactly in the west. Because the axis is tilted, though, it will often rise and set above and below the exact directions, according to which way the axis is tilted relative to the Sun.
If the Sun set somewhat round to the south of due west, that simply means that, right now, the north end of the axis is tilted away from the Sun.
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