You're right, it is the solstice, but interestingly enough, the sun has been setting slightly _later_ each day for at least a couple of weeks. No, I don't understand it, but you can check your daily papers if you still have them, and verify that.

That depeneds on which hemisphere you're in. The earth is actually kind of pear-shaped with the northern hemisphere being slightly smaller than the southern. As such, as we approach the equinox, the actual time of sunrise and sunset changes very little. As we leave the equinox the time starts changing drastically. This is dfferent depending on the lattitude you're at. For example, for us at 37 degrees north, here's the data for today and several weeks prior and after: Date Rise Set 11/16 - 6:27 - 4:49 11/23 - 6:34 - 4:46 11/30 - 6:40 - 4:44 12/07 - 6:46 - 4:44 12/14 - 6:51 - 4:45 12/21 - 6:55 - 4:48 12/28 - 6:58 - 4:52 01/04 - 7:00 - 4:58 01/11 - 7:00 - 5:04 You'll notice that for weeks up to the 21st, there's little change in the time of sunset. Right after, there's a major swing in sunset times. Switching back on topic for a moment - for those who haven't Celestia is an awesome appliction. http://www.shatters.net/celestia/ http://www.linux-magazine.com/issue/58/Celestia_3D_Space_Simulation.pdf I have it running and it is a blast. -- kai ponte www.perfectreign.com linux - genuine windows replacement part