Has the sunrise/sunset time changed over the years? (Read further for my question.)

[Anonymous]

I'm having difficulty searching online for this, so bear with me:
With respect to daylight savings time, has the timing (but not the amount) of daylight changed over the years?
I think I have read something like <1 minute should be adjusted throughout many years...
This comes on the heels of my in-laws claiming that thirty years ago, the sunrise was at a different time than it is now (about twenty minutes). A quick Google search tells me a sunset in Brooklyn has changed by three minutes in twenty or so years.

Does this question make sense? Can you assist?

[Anonymous]

I'm sure if you went to the library and used micro fiche to look at Jewish newspapers from several decades ago they would list the times of sunsets and you could compare and contrast them to sunset times now.

[Anonymous]

This source seems like it might help:

http://www.space.com/881-date-changed-start-spring.html

Among its info: "spring is currently being reduced by approximately one minute per year and winter by about one-half minute per year."

[Anonymous]

Not sure if this is what your asking, but in 2005 Bush signed a bill that extended daylight savings. It now starts 3 weeks earlier and ends 1 week later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if this is what your asking, but in 2005 Bush signed a bill that extended daylight savings. It now starts 3 weeks earlier and ends 1 week later.

No, I'm asking about the timing of the beginning and end of the day light.
For example, if the PP is right, and one minute is added/subtracted to sunrise time every year in spring, then my In-laws could be correct that the sun rises at a half hour different time in Pittsburgh than thirty years ago. (They do offer that the sun also sets equally differently.)

[Anonymous]

The sun sets at different times day by day--days get progressively shorter as you approach the winter solstice and progressively longer as you approach the summer solstice. Additionally, the sun sets later as you move westward in a particular time zone. Unless, your in laws are keeping detailed records of the time of the sunset throughout the year at their specific location, I'd guess that their "observation" is typical in law gobbledygook.

For example, my FIL insists that that ALL gasoline was made of corn (exclusively) for about 5 years during the 1970s.

[Anonymous]

Such a fascinating question!!

Here is a website that allows you to search for past (1700's) and future (to 2100) sunrise and sunset times, by location.

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneYear.php

Please check it out and let us know what you find.

[Anonymous]

I understand your question; in 1988 the latest sunset time would be 8:44pm and sunrise as early as 4:56am. NOW the latest sunset is 8:34pm with 5:14am being the earliest sunrise..........

[Anonymous]

This will eventually be corrected by skipping a leap day.

[Anonymous]

The Earth's orbit around the Sun is elliptical, rather than circular, and the Earth's axis of rotation is not perpendicular to the plane of the orbit. This non-circularity of the orbit and the tilt of the Earth's axis of rotation both contribute to the uneven changes in the times of sunrise and sunset.
https://public.nrao.edu/ask/why-dont-sunrise-and-sunset-times-change-by-the-same-amount-each-day/#:~:text=The%20Earth%27s%20orbit%20around%20the,times%20of%20sunrise%20and%20sunset.

[Anonymous]

I haven't necessarily noticed it at the same location, but I do compare it to sunset/sunrises of my youth in NW PA and notice the difference then.

[Anonymous]

I don't know how to phrase the question either, but I know what you mean, op. I noticed it recently and thought I was imagining things.

[Anonymous]

Did they move at all? If you moved from the western edge of eastern time zone (Ohio, Michigan) to the southeast or northeast, that’s a pretty significant change even within the same time zone. I remember coming home from school in the winter and watching TRL on MTV (yes I’m dating myself!) and noticing it was nearly dark in NYC but was still light in central Ohio.