I think that you'll find that the answer to the apparent variations in position of sunrise and sunset through the year is axial tilt.
This is the difference between the Earth's orbital plane, which remains constant, and it's Equatorial plane which "wobbles" by approximately 23 degrees from the perpendicular during the year. This phenomena is responsible for the fact that we have seasons at all. During what we call summer in the Northern hemisphere, the north pole leans towards the sun by a maximum of approximately 23 degrees mentioned earlier and is what we call mid-summer. During what we call winter in the Northern hemisphere, the North pole leans away from the sun by this same amount at maximum (mid-winter) and obviously is the reason why the seasons are opposite in the Southern and Northern hemispheres. As the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the sun in summer, the southern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun and experiences colder temperatures which we call winter and vice versa.
I hope that my explanation is clear enough but if not, just look up "Axial tilt".
Yeah, I know about axial tilt. I guess I should have been more specific and mentioned the tropics. What I’m saying is, the sun should never rise or set north of the Tropic of Cancer. I am north of the Tropic of Cancer and almost all year long, the sun rises and sets slightly north of me. A good way to check it out (which is the way I first observed this) is find a long road that you know is supposed to run due east and west, such as parts of I-90, and be there and dawn and or dusk, and see whether the sun rises/sets to the north or south of the road. If you live north of the Tropic of Cancer, the sun is supposed to appear to rise to the south of east.
Edited by
Aldtrao
on Mon 11/23/20 02:38 PM