The Spheres They are A-changing

Last night, at approximately midnight, we crossed the Equator. 0 degrees latitude. The earth’s waistline.

All day I had been tracking our location and speed and calculated it would be around about 11:30pm. What I hadn’t calculated was that the clocks changed again last night.

But I did get up at midnight (the new midnight, which I suppose would have been the old 11pm, but my brain hasn’t had quite enough coffee this morning to wrap around it), to conduct a couple of personal experiments.

I had never crossed the equator in anything other than an airplane at 30,000 feet, and do not know if I ever will again so this would be my only chance to answer two questions of my youth:

1.       What does the water going down the sink do right on the equator?

 

2.       What happens to the constellations and the moon right on the equator?

 

Previous firsthand experience had clearly proven that water running down the plug hole turns to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere, but I did not know what it does right on the Equator? Well, now I can tell you. It doesn’t turn at all. I filled the sink with about 3 inches of water (having tested this days earlier to ensure the direction could be discerned) and then pulled the plug and watched. The sink emptied slowly, much slower than usual, but the water just seeped through the drain without movement of any kind.

Next, I went out on our deck to have a look at the skies, hoping that the bank of clouds had cleared so I could see if there had been any change to what I could see and what direction it was. In the southern hemisphere, the constellations are flipped upside down (those of the northern hemisphere that can be seen at all that it) from the way they appear in the northern hemisphere. When do they make that flip was my burning question. Alas, I still do not really know.

Yes, the clouds had mostly cleared, although the moon was riding so high through the clouds, I had to sit down and duck my head, pressing it under the railing to be able to see it peeking out and away from the deck above. In that rather uncomfortable position I was able to see the man on the moon on his side, as if he was trying to find something under the bed, so I expect tonight he will be upside down. Stay tuned!

The constellation question was not answered definitively, however, as Orion’s belt could clearly be seen of the port side, in the east, as it is at home. I could also see Mars and Venus twinkling very brightly and low (but not too low) in the east. At this time of year, that’s where I can see them at home too. But here they are a fair distance apart from each other and I think they are really close together at home right now. Also, this was midnight, and I think they are lower in the east an hour or two before dawn at home.

 

The moon was so bright, and there were still a lot of clouds around that those there the only stars I could identify. So if the constellations do suddenly make a flip, I won’t see it, as I was not lively enough to stay out there for more than half an hour.  Scientific research can take only so much of a girl’s time.