How Much Daylight Are We Losing Each Day?
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Friday is the fall Equinox, which means there are 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of nighttime in the mid-latitude areas.
It also means autumn has officially begun.
Right now, the metro area loses about three minutes a day.
On Sept. 21, it was three minutes and six seconds, to be exact.
This is the highest rate of daylight loss compared to any other time of year.
"In July, we're losing less than a minute, and in late June were losing seconds a day," said Rich Schuler, professor of astronomy at the University of St. Thomas.
The sun's path and the earth's equator are different, given the earth rotates around the sun at a tilt of 23.5 degrees.
So as the earth makes its journey around the sun, there's a change in the degree of which part of the planet is titled towards the sun.
That rate of change brings about the change in the number of daylight hours.
During the fall equinox, the rate of daylight change is 5.5 minutes per day in Juneau, Alaska. It's 10.5 minutes per day in Barrow, Alaska.