Precession of the Earth

Artwork Animations
1

Here is a video we made to illustrate the precession of the Earth using Blender. Has a lot going on and was one of the toughest animations I have made to date. Hope you enjoy!

If you have any questions please feel free to shoot them my way.

2

Nice visual that explains Earth wobble. That means 1300 years from now earth will be tilled the other way, making January a summer and July a winter! Any way it would have been interesting if you did your North Celestial pole path image with star trails like this one:

http://blog.wanken.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/star-trails-over-the-australian-outback-04.jpg
star-trails-over-the-australian-outback-04.jpg900×592

3

I don´t think so ridix. The video shows how the position of the constellations will change from Earth’s point of view. I want blackhaus to clarify this, but I think that the position and orientation between the Earth and the Sun will not change.

Nice video by the way!

4

Correct! The position of the Sun will not change in the sense that on the solstice the Sun will still rise over the headstone at Stonehenge. But the day of the solstice has changed as it used to be December 25th and now is either the 21st or 22nd.

What is changing is the intersection of the Earth’s equator and the ecliptic (when the sun is at those intersections it is by definition of vernal or autumnal equinox). So as the Earth wobbles that intersection thus slips and changes what constellation it is in. The symbol for the Vernal Equinox is the symbol for Aries the Ram but due to precession the Vernal equinox is currently in Pisces and heading into Aquarius.

I never fully understood precession until having to make this movie.

And thanks for looking at the movie!

5

Nice movie.

6

Thirteen thousand, not hundred. We’ve got time to prepare.

Right now the north pole is tilted away from the sun in January. In 13,000 years, precession will have caused it to tilt toward the sun, hence summer-like weather in the northern hemisphere in January. And the Aussies will get to have a white Christmas for a change.

BTW, nice animation.

Steve S

7

Thanks! Much appreciated.

8

Thanks! I had a lot of fun with this one.

9

According to this video at Khan Academy, the calender will be adjusted so that January will always be in the winter (for us northerners.)

Steve S