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In Ontario, over the course of a year, the Sun changes its height overhead as it passes through the sky. The Sun is at the highest point in the sky in the summer and the lowest point in the winter. The following animation depicts the position of the Sun in the sky at midday throughout the year.
The Sun
Where is the Sun?
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It travels a longer path overhead in the summer leading to earlier sunrises and late sunsets. In the winter, the Sun doesn’t rise as high, so it takes a shorter path from the eastern horizon to the lower horizon.
One question people ask when observing the sky is if the objects in the sky are moving or if we on Earth are moving? Imagine you’re riding a train that’s stopped at a station. You observe your surroundings out of the train window. Another train is stopped, too. Then you observe motion. Is your train moving, or is it the other train?
Movement of the Sun
Solstice & equinox
Many First Nations stories involve the ideas of circles and cycles: the seasons, the day, moon cycles, baskets, hoops, life stages, animal migration, plant and animal reproduction. The cycle of life is never ending! The Sun moves from its lowest point at the winter solstice to its highest point at the summer solstice and then back again. Or is it our planet that’s moving? It’s hard to tell!
For people living in the high arctic, the time around the winter solstice is 24-hour darkness. You can imagine the feelings people get when the Sun rises again closer to spring!
Once again, explore the following animation which depicts the change in height of the Sun in the sky over the course of a year.
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Agriculture
To grow a plant outdoors it is important for the conditions to be just right. For this reason, the invention of the calendar shortly followed the invention of agriculture. Even for those who forage, hunt, or gather it’s important to know the best time to tap a maple tree, when to fish, or the best time to collect berries or mushrooms.
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Eclipses
During an eclipse we can clearly observe the Moon block the Sun. From this observation we can tell that objects in the sky move differently. We can also predict that the Moon must be closer than the Sun.The following video from National Geographic provides a visual example of a solar eclipse, while a narrator breaks down how it occurs.
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