Page 258 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

THE ARCTIC REGIONS 45

invisible to an observer whose zenith is Z. Corresponding to this
total disappearance of the sun for some time, the luminary will
be perpetually above the horizon for the same period during his
northern course. For instance, let the sun be at d, then his diurnal
circle of rotation, dH' will be entirely above the horizon H' H,
and so it will continue to be for all the time that the sun moves
from d to E, and back again from E to d, in his annual course.
During this time the sun will neither rise nor set, but will move,
like the circumpolar stars, in oblique circles, round and round
the observer like a wheel. For all positions between n and d, and
the corresponding portion of the ecliptic on the other side, the
sun, in his diu~nal course of twenty-four hours, would be partially
above and partially below the horizon, producing ordinary days
and nights, as with us, the day being longer than the night when
the sun is in the northern, and the night longer than the day when
the sun is in the southern hemisphere. Instead of a single day and a
single night of six months, the year, to a person living in the
Arctic regions, but not exactly at the North Pole, will, therefore,
be divided into three parts, one of which will be a long night,
one a long day, and one made up of a succession of days and
nights, a single day and night of which will together never exceed
twenty-four hours. fhe long night will always be shorter than
six months and longer than 24 hours, and the same will be
the case with the long day. The long njght and the long day will
mark the two opposite extremities of the year, the middle of the
long day occurring when the. sun is at the summer solstic.e, and the
middle of the long night when he is at the winter solstice. This
triple division of the year is very important for our purpose,
and I shall, therefore, illustrate it by a concrete example. Suppose,
for instance, that the observer is so far below the North Pole
that instead of a night of six months, he has a night of 2 months,
or, in other words, the sun goes below his horizon only for two
months. As the winter solstice will fall in the middle of this long
continuous night, we may say that the night will extend a month
before and a month after December 21, when the sun is at the
winter solstice. Corresponding to this long night, there will be a
continuous day of two months, a month before and a month
after June 21, when the sun is at the summer solstice. If these
four months are deducted from the year, there will remain eight
nsonths, ant' -:luring all these months there will be days and nights,