The final post...

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Aira Idris Aira Idris | 10:00 AM, Monday, 26 March 2012

The aim of this last post is to essentially thank everyone for participating in our project. We set out, marking our distance through space, every step of the way throughout the year of 2011.

From the early stages of Aonach Mor, bringing you the first video blog from the team on location, to our first call to action for your iwtiness severe weather footage, during the February Scottish storm - several snow storms, tornadoes, monsoon events, tropical storms and aurora's later, we are very grateful for all the footage sent in to help us document Earth's extraordinary journey on this blog.

A selection of the footage can be viewed on the 'severe weather videos' page and remain available to flick through on our 'photography pool' and on the blog. We want to remind you that you can continue to send your up to date severe weather footage and astronomy photos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk where they may form part of future weather and astronomy stories across the BBC.

We also want to thank everyone who joined us on twitter at the beginning with #bbc23degrees and then later with #bbcorbit - the latter hashtag will remain available to you as archive.

For all the comments on the blog posts across the entire production, we thank you for sharing your opinions with us to create an informed series, and raising points worth consideration for future BBC Science projects.

This post as with the three episode posts will remain open for comments until the end of this week, after which commenting on the blog will be closed.

All that is left to say is, Goodbye, and remember that you're hurtling through space at over 100'000 kph.

Orbit: Episode Three

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Aira Idris Aira Idris | 21:45 PM, Sunday, 18 March 2012

In our journey so far we have explored the impacts of the Earth's Spin and Orbit on the weather and climate.

The final instalment of the series explores the influence of the tilt on the Earth's weather and climate, and how the Earth's relationship with the Sun affects the way we live our lives.

Originally the series was called 23 Degrees, (the angle of the tilt) as we considered this factor extremely significant to the variability in seasons our planet experiences. Although the series is now called Orbit, the tilt of the Earth continued to be an extremely important factor of the series. What do you think?

From the arrival of spring in the Hay river to the affects of the monsoon to the people in India, we wanted to uncover how Nature and culture respond to the variations in the Sun's energy.

Kate takes us through the ancient archeological site Chichen Itza, Yacatan region of Mexico. At its peak, in the 10th century AD it was a thriving city that sprawled over 25 square kilometres and was home to more than 40000 people.

We wanted to explore how ancient civilizations had developed a great understanding of our Earth's journey around the Sun, and Kate takes us there on a significant day; the March Equinox. How significant are sites such as temple of Kukulkan and Stonehenge to us today?

In this episode we also wanted to breakdown the key factors that drive the extremes of weather like the Monsoon, Dust storm and the Tornado.

Helen travels to Kerala, South of India to discover what drives the Monsoon and visits Tornado Alley with atmospheric Scientist Josh Wurman to explain 'What causes a tornado?'

A record six EF-5 tornadoes were confirmed in 2011, the most deadly being Joplin Missouri tornado (158 killed, 14 mile path length.)

What do you think about Episode three? How significant do you think the Earth's tilt is to our climate and weather? How far are we in understanding why one supercell drops a tornado and another doesn't? Has our cultural relationship with the Sun changed over time? Leave your comments on this post.

Orbit: Episode Two

The second instalment of the series follows the Earth's journey from the start of January to the Spring Equinox in March. Available on iplayer. What did you think?

Kate begins the film on a day with a very significant point in our Earth's journey - Perihelion. Kate climbs Aonach Mor mountain, one of the highest mountains in Scotland, which brings her as close to the Sun as she'll ever be for the entire year.

This however is not because of where she is but because of the point the Earth has reached in its orbit around the Sun. In fact we kick started our blog on this day just over a year ago, when we explored the elliptical shape of our planet's orbit and how significant this was to our understanding of Earth's climate.

Later in the film Helen explains how the proximity of the Earth to the Sun doesn't guarantee warmth - which brings us to the tilt of the Earth (23.4 degrees) - a theme we explore in further detail in episode three.

Throughout this episode Kate and Helen explore the increase in solar radiation and how land and ocean respond to it.

Kate drives over a frozen lake in Canada with an ice road trucker in one of the coldest places in that region and learns how important this ice formation is to connecting communities.

In this film we also tackle ice ages and how over time, as Earth has repeated it's annual journey, it's climate has changed.

Helen dives under water in Belize to discover how sea levels have risen and fallen over time due to ice age - and explores the three cycles that need to be right in order for another ice age to exist.

What did you think of episode two?

(There are a total of three episodes in this series)

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