Winter solstice
Cloudy, beautiful morning here in east San Diego County, California, North America, and at 10:20 we positioned ourselves on the glider, facing south, to observe the solstice at 10:25.
At that moment, the Earth in its orbit around the Sun reached a place where the Sun’s perpendicular rays hit, just for an instant, the Earth at its southernmost presentation to the Sun.
It was instantaneous: the Earth orbits the sun at a speed of 66,780 miles per hour. I tried to visualize that, assuming a random position in black space where I could watch the Earth, and witness its speed, as it crossed that place where Sun rays bumped the Tropic of Capricorn, 23 ½ degrees south of the Equator. Seconds later, the rays were traveling back north across the Earth’s face toward the summer solstice, at the Tropic of Cancer, 23 ½ degrees north of the equator, where on the glider it will be June 21 or thereabouts.
At 10:25, the Earth was rotating West to East at a speed of about 1,000 miles per hour. It was orbiting the Sun at a speed of 66,780 miles per hour. The Sun and its entire solar system were orbiting in the Milky Way Galaxy at a speed of 487,353 miles per hour. Yet from the glider, it seemed so peaceful. How in the world is it, that people come to believe they are dominant?
At that moment, the Earth in its orbit around the Sun reached a place where the Sun’s perpendicular rays hit, just for an instant, the Earth at its southernmost presentation to the Sun.
It was instantaneous: the Earth orbits the sun at a speed of 66,780 miles per hour. I tried to visualize that, assuming a random position in black space where I could watch the Earth, and witness its speed, as it crossed that place where Sun rays bumped the Tropic of Capricorn, 23 ½ degrees south of the Equator. Seconds later, the rays were traveling back north across the Earth’s face toward the summer solstice, at the Tropic of Cancer, 23 ½ degrees north of the equator, where on the glider it will be June 21 or thereabouts.
At 10:25, the Earth was rotating West to East at a speed of about 1,000 miles per hour. It was orbiting the Sun at a speed of 66,780 miles per hour. The Sun and its entire solar system were orbiting in the Milky Way Galaxy at a speed of 487,353 miles per hour. Yet from the glider, it seemed so peaceful. How in the world is it, that people come to believe they are dominant?
![michaelgrant2 [at] cox.net](http://www.michaelgrant.com/blog/uploaded_images/email.gif)
