Puzzle 2

Question: Why is there a variation in length of the seasons? 
(Northern hemisphere summer is 93.6 days, spring 92.7, fall 89.8, winter 89.0)

 
Answer: Click for the reason 
(BTW, this means we get 4.6 more summer days than south of the equator) 

 

Email

 

Because the elliptical orbit of the earth is furthest from the sun in early summer, during the summer season the earth:
  1. is orbiting the sun more slowly
  2. has a larger distance to travel one quarter orbit [90 degrees] around the sun
This makes summer the longest season. Spring is the second longest, for the same reasons.