Pitch black at 7 pm? (Was: Re: Gleanings from 3rd Viewing)

[Martin Smith]

Hi everybody!


Heather Moore, the girl with the coolest name on this list, wrote:
> > The Hogwarts Express departs at 11 am; should it really be pitch black
> > already at 7pm when they arrive in Hogsmeade?
>

Amanda, the Texan, replied:
> What latitude do you live in, dear? Sure it could be that dark at 7pm in
> Scotland. Or so this Texan believes; any of you UK-ites out there ready
> to confirm this?
>

And I, not UK-ite, but Swede, pick up the sunlit thread:


I assume that Hogwarts is in Scotland, quite near Edingburgh, and the
positon for Edinburgh is 56' N, 4' W. At those coordinates the sun sets at
19.12, thus not pitch black at 19.00.
As we know that the six months around midsummer (in which period September
1:st is) means later sunsets the more north you get, we must assume that
Hogwarts is south of Edinburgh. Assuming the latitude is 55' N, which is
close to as south as you can get in Scotland, the sun sets at 19.08.
That means that Hogwarts must be east of Edinburgh (further east meaning
earlier sunsets in the same timezone). Let's assume that the longitude is 2'
W instead of Edinburghs 4'. Keeping the southernmost latitude possible, 55'
N, the sun would set at 19.00. Problem is, that's in Northumberland in
northern England and *not* in Scotland.
A map of Scotland shows that the Scottish mainland doesn't go east of 2'W,
so nowhere in Scotland is there a place where the sun has set by 19.00. Even
the southernmost tip of Shetland Islands (60'N, 1,6'W) is too far west to
have a sunset earlier than 19.00 (sunset at 19.10).

Conclusions:

Hogwarts is *not* in Scotland
OR
The Hogwarts Express actually arrives *later than* 19.00.

I tend to lean on the second one (it is stated in FB that the Forbidden
Forest is in Scotland), as my experience with trains, magical or not, is
that they are more often delayed than not.

Sources:
Maps: http://thedeejays.com/atlas/
Sunsets/sunrises: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneYear.html


Martin, who believes Tim Burton should helm PoA and Guy Ritchie should do
GoF.


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