Thread: Answer to a dumb question

What happens in countries that are on the equator?

Do they even have a summer and winter as the sun just moves from north to south by the same amount?

Originally Posted by rrich

It came up with the kids. . .

'Is there a country that experiences Winter Solstice and Summer Solstice, simultaneously?'

My answer was "Sort of yes but probably about 12 hours apart.'

My answer was based upon the United Kingdom which includes England and Australia, among others. The kids claimed that they were separate countries where as I said that they have the same Monarch. I would have said England and The Falkland Islands but I think that the Islands are more of a possession or territory than a country.

The question for you blokes, Am I correct?

Well you are wrong. Sorry.

Australia and England are completely separate countries. They don't even share a Monarch. Betty Windsor is the Queen of England, Ireland and Wales and Queen of Scotland -- which technically are separate crowns. She is also Queen of Australia, but this is separate from her Queen of UK role. Betty could abdicate as Queen of Australia without affexcting her other titles.


but back to your question.
Apart from countries on the Equator, I think the UK is the answer as Pitcairn Island (in the South Pacific) is legally part of the UK as are the South Georgia and South Sandwich islands in the Southern Atlantic Ocean.

I think France might also be an answer as Tahiti and Noumea (both in the South Pacific) are overseas territories of France. As well France owns / administers a bunch of uninhabited islands in the Southern Indian Ocean -- Amsterdam Island, Crozet Islands, Kerguelen Island. As far as I know none of these islands have a permanent population.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands comes close, but the overseas parts are north of the Equator.

China may be a valid answer in the years to come. You never know where they might build an island next!

Ian has the right answer to a point.

Having been through the courts over the last couple of years - long story. It was ascertained by some (many) greater than myself that the Australian Constitution has the Queen of the UK and Northern Ireland as it's monarch.

However, in 1974(?) the then Whitlam government changed the Royal Stiles and Titles Act to encompass the Queen of Australia without consent from all the countries in the Commonwealth as required, making the Queen of Australia illegal. Fast forward a few years, and we have the Australia Act, which was enacted without due process, also making this Act very suspect.

The upshot is, believe it or not, currently we have the Queen of Australia which is illegal and also the Queen of the UK and Northern Ireland under the Constitution.

Compound this with the situation that the High Court in Melbourne has removed the Australian Coat of Arms and picture of the Queen from it's Court, making it a private Court and one not under the Crown.

Also legally, Australia is still classified as a Colony of the UK, and not a country.

It is a real dogs breakfast.

Definitely France, not UK. Reunion is a Department of France (not just a territory) in the Indian Ocean, southern hemisphere. But why go there when you have countries like Kenya and Congo which the equator bisects?

Thank you all! I never realized that geography could be so complicated. When realizing that any country that has the equator running through it would qualify as simultaneous Summer/Winter Solstice. (Brazil was my thought)

And your supreme leader is about as complicated as ours except yours is complicated with dignity and tradition while ours is complicated by hate and stupidity.

I would have thought that the two solstices must be 6 months apart by definition. Besides, since there is always 12 hours of both light and dark at the equator, it is in permanent equinox and would NEVER experience a solstice in terms of longest/shortest day

Astronomically the solstice is when the sun gets to the northern or southern extremity of its movement along the ecliptic.
Well away from the equator you can talk about summer and winter solstices, but at the equator summer/winter have little if any meaning, but at each solstice, the sun is either in the southern sky (December) or the northern sky (June).

so this got me thinking....is there a country on the equator that has snow settling on the ground.

Yes, but you have to be pretty high up https://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=1021

Originally Posted by Tonto

so this got me thinking....is there a country on the equator that has snow settling on the ground.

i always understood that quito was on the equator and high enough elevation for snow, so maybe ecuador ?

regards david

Mt Kenya is not far from the equator. I think it still snows there, but climate change is making it less and less.

It all depends on how you define "on the Equator"

Places that come to mind with snow, for at least part of the year, are
Mt Kilimanjaro -- 3.05 degrees South
quite a few mountains in Equador
Mount Wilhelm -- Papua New Guinea -- 5.8 degrees South
a few peaks in West Papua, among which is Mt Sumantri -- 4.06 degress south -- which has remnants of a glacier

Mt Kenya: 0° 9'