These are one of the most interesting rural architectural styles in France, with many examples still in existence in north-east Aquitaine. Originally the pigeonniers were used for breeding and raising pigeons for food to the owners. Their characteristics typically include:
Thatâs logical, but not the case, for Earth. Instead, Earth has seasons because our planetâs axis of rotation is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees relative to our orbital plane â the plane of Earthâs orbit around the sun. The tilt in the axis of the Earth is called its obliquity by scientists.
Most people know that the Earth revolves around the Sun in one year (actually. 365.24 days and we add one day to the calendar every four years, for a âleap. yearâ). Most also know that it takes 24 hours (actually 23 hours and 56 minutes) for the Earth to make a full rotation on its axis. Fewer people know that the Earthâs orbit is elliptical, or oval shaped, and that the Earth is sometimes slightly closer to the Sun than at other times, but this is not what causes the seasons, in fact we are closest to the Sun in January! Seasons are caused by the fact that the âEarth is tiltedâ (see Figure 1). What we mean by that is that the Earthâs axial tilt is at an angle of 23.5 degrees relative to the plane of the Ecliptic, its plane of orbit around the Sun. And the imaginary line, on which the Earth rotates, its axis, is tilted close to Polaris, the North Star.