Go to the Arctic or Antarctic in their respective summers, and it’s always day. And you can time the flight between to stay in day.
Alternatively, rocket to the L1 Lagrange point between the Earth and Sun and just stay there. The orbit is metastable, so that’s practical.
Flying in a circle around the Earth in the vicinity of the Arctic or Antarctic circles (cutting through Norway, Finland such) would require flying at about the Concorde’s top speed.
My dad once had a flight west that took off just before sunset. Apparently took well over an hour for the sun to fully set. Not quite perpetual, but the stretching of dusk was apparently pretty weird.
Yes a commercial airliner can go about 80-90% of the speed needed to match the earth’s rotation, so if it chases the sun, you will only lose a couple hours in a day when you arrive to a new destination 12 hours later.
I remember there was a 1999/2000 Concorde flight schedule that enabled you to celebrate that NYE 3 or 4 times, east to west.
I remember reading somewhere you can do this with cruises. When you are on the border UMT -11 and -12, you can have 2 and that leaves you 22 hours to travel to the border of +11 and +12. You might even squeeze an extra celebration out.
Yeah, a fighter jet with refuels could chase the sunlight for quite a while. At some point jets need maintenance though, but there would be plenty enough wiggle room to land and change jets, we can beat Earth’s rotation
So yeah, sure, it’s absolutely possible
Just launch on a rocket and park yourself in L1. Boom, perpetual daylight!
or nightime if you’re a vampire
Theoretically, but not practically. At the equator, you would need to be travelling at over 1,700kph.
At around 60° north or south, the required speed slows to a little over 1,600 mph, still over 1,000 mph.
Commercial airliners typically travel at around 800kph.
If it’s summer, and you’re far enough north, you just have to stand still.
The trick is traveling between the arctic and antarctic quickly enough on each equinox.
Haha!! True!
so, at the equator or on the air, use metric, otherwise use imperial
Or I will do whatever I feel like
*ACU
Just go farther towards the pole that currently has summer. After a certain point a rock on the ground is fast enough to stay in perpetual sunlight. (At least until summer is over.)
I was going to say you could put a satellite between earth and the sun and float it there, constantly being in daylight, but i suppose you could just launch a satellite around the sun at that point, same thing really
At around 60° north or south, the required speed slows to a little over 1,600 mph, still over 1,000 mph.
Wat?
Fuck. Would edit, but I will leave in my egregious mistake. 1600 Kilometres per hour is around about 1,000 miles per hour.
Ah. Yeah, could have guessed that. Thanks though.
I used to wonder if it would be possible to fly a small solar powered plane fast enough to just stay in the daytime forever.
Skypiercer
ONE PLANE!
You don’t need to fly in the equator though. Try either of the poles, and fly in the summer.
Yeah, totally possible. The speeds needed are within our capabilities.
You can see demonstrated here around 9.30m - https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x66wixr
Brian Cox watches the sunset, and then accelerates enough to watch it in reverse.
Sorta related xkcd what if clip about the longest sunset you can experience while driving.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8F7UNK9jco&t=80
The reference to the plane close to the beginning suggests that yes, so long as you can refill fast enough, or while flying than you can travel in perpetual daylight.
Tangentially related, you might find this “What if?” video from XKCD creator Randal Monroe interesting.
yet night comes for you
I’d recommend Into the Night if you’re interested in a show exploring the reverse concept. No idea about the scientific possibility though.
Thanks for the suggestion
Kinda Offtopic: But this reminds me of the “Jetlag” I had when I first came to the US. I think this was like right before school is supposed to start (as in, the first time going to a US school for me in my entire life), I remember like going somewhere, and I was so tired I fell asleep in the car (relative’s car, they were driving us around to places, we didn’t have a car), and btw I’m from China so the timezone is like exactly reversed and the US was 12 hours behind during DST, so anyways, I remember waking up just as we pulled in front of the house we rented and my mom said she was about to have to carry me inside. I kinda wish that she did… but I was 8 and was already too big lol. I remember still asking my parents to try and like… pick me up and like try to carry me (I was a kid, I’m just like that… weirdly demanding affection) but I think they kinda tried but I was way too big lol and barely managed to life me off the ground, dad kinda did better but like he kinda like lift me off the ground for 5 seconds then got tired. xD
I remember I sometimes sit on my mom’s laps as a kid, and sometimes I’d sit beside her and rest my head on her lap like a pillow, and my mom would encourage me to do that… like idk I think she was just very affectionate with me… like when I’m like outside and like on a subway/bus ride and tired and wanna sleep and I’d just rest my head on her lap… and I think I remember my aunt (dad’s sister) once said to my mom something that I’m very 嗲 (in Cantonese), I think she meant along the lines of “wow, your son is very clingy 😄”… I don’t think her kids are that close to her, like they are much less affectionate I think… (they were born in the US btw) think Aunt might be jealous that we just havr a different bond.
But then again… I also have a lot of memories of my mom being emotionally abusive… so yeah kinda hard to forget about those moments… memories are like a mindfield, and you’re trying to find gold hiding within this mindfield
Anyways, I always have these random memories coming back again and again lol.
