NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2020 Feb 11, 10:29 -0800
Today is "Sun Slow Day". The Equation of Time hits its low point. The real Sun is behind the mean Sun by over 14 minutes. Sun Slow Day is the best holiday of the year for procrastinators. By tradition, today is the day when you can be late to any event by 14 minutes with no social cost, no legal limits. If you're late to work today, you cannot be fired! But don't quote me on this. :)
To see Sun Slow Day in a modern nautical almanac, look at the GHA of the Sun (the longitude of the sub-Sun point) at Greenwich noon. If the Sun is on schedule, the Sun's GHA is 0° 00.0' at Greenwich noon. It is directly above the Prime Meridian. Check on April 15, and it's nearly true on that date. But today the Sun's GHA at Greenwich noon is 356°26.8'. It still has over three and half degrees of longitude to travel before it reaches the Prime Meridian.
Frank Reed
