# Why the asymmetry between the dates of earliest and latest sunsets (with respect to the solstices)?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-asymmetry-between-the-dates-of-earliest-and-latest-sunsets-with-respect-to-the-solstices/853952>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 17, 2020, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-asymmetry-between-the-dates-of-earliest-and-latest-sunsets-with-respect-to-the-solstices/853952 "2020-05-17T00:13:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-asymmetry-between-the-dates-of-earliest-and-latest-sunsets-with-respect-to-the-solstices/853952/21 "2020-06-05T02:19:55Z")

</div>

> [@GreenWyvern](#):
>
> … A time zone is an hour wide …

Thank you 🙂

I’m pleased with the explanations, but I’m especially pleased that somebody raised this point so that I could read the response.

I should have asked myself, but I was too chicken :o

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-asymmetry-between-the-dates-of-earliest-and-latest-sunsets-with-respect-to-the-solstices/853952/22 "2020-06-05T04:06:30Z")

</div>

And the Arctic Circle is moving almost 50 feet north every year???

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\
**Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-asymmetry-between-the-dates-of-earliest-and-latest-sunsets-with-respect-to-the-solstices/853952/23 "2020-06-05T05:04:53Z")

</div>

> [@Mangosteen](#):
>
> And the Arctic Circle is moving almost 50 feet north every year???

Well, the (mean) obliquity of the ecliptic is currently decreasing by however many arc seconds per century (about 47?), so if you interpret that as a statement about the Arctic Circle, your 50 feet sounds more or less right.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\
**Post date:** [June 6, 2020, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-asymmetry-between-the-dates-of-earliest-and-latest-sunsets-with-respect-to-the-solstices/853952/24 "2020-06-06T00:30:49Z")

</div>

> [@slaphead](#):
>
> The equator is a weird place. First time I went somewhere tropical on vacation I discovered that not only was the moon broken and lying on it’s back, dusk was an on/off function rather than a dimmer. I went to the beach to watch the sunset and had to fumble my way back in the dark. Also most of the invertebrates were in the wrong sizes.

I spent some time in Singapore, where they say you can stand on the waterfront and see the equator (actually - the southernmost point of land is 1.13 degrees - so the equator is still about 7 miles away). The sun sets, and within 15 minutes it’s dark. But even though it’s so close to the equator, the sunset times range from 6:50 pm to 7:18 pm, and the day lengths (sunrise to sunset) range from 12h3m to 12h12m.

So the days are rather monotonous - sun rises and sets every day of the year within a few minute range, and the weather is almost always 25c-32C with a chance of thunderstorms.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-asymmetry-between-the-dates-of-earliest-and-latest-sunsets-with-respect-to-the-solstices/853952.md?page=1)