Do-it-yourself Winter solstice (solstice version 1)

If you know one thing about the winter solstice you’ll know it’s the “shortest day”, meaning there is less daylight than on any other day of the year. That’s because of the way the Earth spins on a tilted axis as it makes its yearly journey around the sun.

Picture it for yourself while gawking at the scale of the solar system.

First, take a Sun. The largest sphere I own is a stability ball, the kind you can balance on, sit on and put your feet on for all manner of unknowable benefits. Mine measures 65 centimetres across. On this scale, your Earth shouldn’t be much bigger than a half-centimetre across: a particularly small grape will do, the grape on the bunch that seems never to have got growing. Put a toothpick through your grape from top to bottom and take your very own solar system outside. Place your Sun somewhere it won’t roll around, and walk your Earth 100 steps away from the Sun. That’s about the distance between two streets in Manhattan.

Hold your Earth by the toothpick (aka axis), and tilt the top of the toothpick away from the Sun. Everywhere north of the middle (aka equator) is now in winter. Perhaps your grape has a few little brown spots on it? Find one somewhere towards the top and name it New York, or your own preferred place in the northern hemisphere. Now start spinning your Earth by the toothpick, bringing day and night to New York. Whenever your little brown spot can “see” the sun, it’s daylight. You should find there is more dark than light. If your spot is too high, all the way up in the Arctic Circle, your little brown spot will never “see” the Sun; it will be in constant darkness.

You have made your own winter solstice.

Let’s bring back the light.

Walk around your stability ball, I mean the Sun, keeping about the same distance away (Or take the easier option and just tilt your toothpick the other way, so the top is pointing towards the Sun.) Set your little green world spinning again and watch how much light New York gets now. Nice, right? Summer. If you’re up with the polar bears, your little spot will always be able to “see” the sun. Careful though, constant daylight plays havoc with your sleep.

Link:
NASA solar system has information on the size of the sun and the planets, as well as the distances between them.