Don't like Daylight Savings time? Try this....
Posted: 15.03.2012, 06:14
I increased the Earth's obliquity to about 80 degrees last year, based on a dream I had (which itself had a downer ending, but that's another story), and as I adjusted the timerates, I began to notice why we had Daylight Savings Time in the first place.
Then I did a little test, where I put the observer at 45 degrees north, 0 degrees longitude, and switched to UTC time, since IIRC, UTC is based on zero longitude.
Basically, from Winter Solstice to Summer Solstice, I noticed that, during the times the sun was able to cross the horizon (from midwinter to midspring), the sunrise times got earlier and earlier much, much, MUCH faster than the sunset times getting later and later. On top of that, the sun reaching its highest point in the sky was significantly earlier than 12:00:00 UTC, by as much as THREE HOURS. However, in the final few days before and after Summer Solstice, the times the sun was at the highest point in the sky progressed very rapidly, with with the sun being at the top of the sky at precisely noon on solstice day.
It continued to rapidly progress in time in the few days after solstice, this time, not reaching the highest point in the sky until about three hours AFTER UTC noon. This time, from Summer Solstice to Winter solstice, (and midsummer to midfall respectively for the crossing the horizon), the sunset times changed MORE RAPIDLY than the sunrise times.
This is where the DST kicks in: At midspring, in the final few days before the sun was up for good, the sun would set about 2 or 3 hours before midnight, and then rise again before it was even midnight! Meaning the sun set and rose IN THE SAME DAY! At midsummer, it happened again, this time right AFTER midnight. Midfall and midwinter are basically inverted, with midfall's sun rising and setting before noon, and midwinter's sun rising and setting after noon.
Thus, if, for some reason Earth was able to maintain habitability and an advanced human civilization despite having high obliquity, DST times would probably be changed MORE than twice a year, is my best guess. So be grateful with what we DO have.
To see the whole thing for yourself, and try things out at where you are, I have provided a mostly-simple .ssc modifying Earth to have an increased obliquity.
(Figuring out what rotation period the "CustomRotation 'earth-p03lp" had was a pain, since the rotationperiod value given in solarsys.ssc was DIFFERENT than what "CustomRotation 'earthp03lp" used, and googling and guessing which numbers were right was harder than I imagined.)
Question for the Pros: Am I correct in thinking DST's would have to be changed more frequently or have bigger changes, or did I make a mistake somewhere?
Then I did a little test, where I put the observer at 45 degrees north, 0 degrees longitude, and switched to UTC time, since IIRC, UTC is based on zero longitude.
Basically, from Winter Solstice to Summer Solstice, I noticed that, during the times the sun was able to cross the horizon (from midwinter to midspring), the sunrise times got earlier and earlier much, much, MUCH faster than the sunset times getting later and later. On top of that, the sun reaching its highest point in the sky was significantly earlier than 12:00:00 UTC, by as much as THREE HOURS. However, in the final few days before and after Summer Solstice, the times the sun was at the highest point in the sky progressed very rapidly, with with the sun being at the top of the sky at precisely noon on solstice day.
It continued to rapidly progress in time in the few days after solstice, this time, not reaching the highest point in the sky until about three hours AFTER UTC noon. This time, from Summer Solstice to Winter solstice, (and midsummer to midfall respectively for the crossing the horizon), the sunset times changed MORE RAPIDLY than the sunrise times.
This is where the DST kicks in: At midspring, in the final few days before the sun was up for good, the sun would set about 2 or 3 hours before midnight, and then rise again before it was even midnight! Meaning the sun set and rose IN THE SAME DAY! At midsummer, it happened again, this time right AFTER midnight. Midfall and midwinter are basically inverted, with midfall's sun rising and setting before noon, and midwinter's sun rising and setting after noon.
Thus, if, for some reason Earth was able to maintain habitability and an advanced human civilization despite having high obliquity, DST times would probably be changed MORE than twice a year, is my best guess. So be grateful with what we DO have.
To see the whole thing for yourself, and try things out at where you are, I have provided a mostly-simple .ssc modifying Earth to have an increased obliquity.
(Figuring out what rotation period the "CustomRotation 'earth-p03lp" had was a pain, since the rotationperiod value given in solarsys.ssc was DIFFERENT than what "CustomRotation 'earthp03lp" used, and googling and guessing which numbers were right was harder than I imagined.)
Question for the Pros: Am I correct in thinking DST's would have to be changed more frequently or have bigger changes, or did I make a mistake somewhere?