![]() ![]() This is a 6 month pinhole photo taken from solstice to solstice, in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. ![]() Alaska-based climatologist Brian Brettschneider created this terrific guide (click to see some charts): The northernmost latitudes will see an entire 24 hours of sunlight, while most of the US will see anywhere between 14 and 16 hours. The farther north you are, the more sunlight you’ll see during the solstice. 2) How many hours of sunlight will I get on the 21st? This “results in the land covered by sunlight having greater area than the land covered by darkness,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) explains. That’s because our atmosphere bends sunlight a bit, essentially stretching it over a slightly greater area of land. NASA/ Meteosat/ Robert SimmonĪ fun fact about the terminator: It’s not the case that it splits the Earth into even halves of light and dark. In the video, you can see how the line separating day from night (called the terminator) swings back and forth from the poles during the year. Here’s a time-lapse demonstration of the phenomenon shot over the course of a whole year from space. For the other half of the year, the South Pole gets more light. The tilt - possibly caused by a massive object hitting Earth billions of years ago - means that for half the year, the North Pole is pointed toward the sun (as in the picture below). The summer and winter solstices, the seasons, and the changing length of daylight hours throughout the year are all due to one fact: Earth spins on a tilted axis. 1) Why do we have a summer solstice, anyway? If you’re a fan of sunlight, wearing shorts, eating ice cream, and enjoying all summer has to offer, this is likely a big day for you.īelow is a short scientific guide to the longest day of the year. This will occur at exactly 10:57 am Eastern Wednesday. Technically speaking, the summer solstice occurs when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer, or 23.5 degrees north latitude. This positioning will promote more extreme variation in solar intensity from summer to winter, where theoretically summers will be hotter and winter much colder.The summer solstice is upon us: Wednesday, June 21, is the longest day of 2023, and the start of the summer season, for anyone living north of the equator. ![]() At the winter solstice, the north pole will be tilted away from the Sun and be at the farthest distance from the Sun. This current positioning will change in about 13,000 years when the north pole will be tilted toward the Sun at the Earth's closest pass in summer. At the winter solstice, the north is tilted away but the planet is closest to the Sun. So the north is tilted toward the Sun when the Earth is furthest from the sun at the summer solstice. At times of the year the earth is closer to the Sun.Ĭurrently, the Earth makes its closest pass to the Sun in the northern hemisphere's winter. Now what if I told you the Earth in its orbit is currently near its farthest distance from the Sun? The orbit is an ellipse, not a circle. The days are shorter and the sun is low in the sky, resulting in cooler temperatures. In Montana’s winter, the north pole is tilted away from the direct rays of the Sun. This results in warmer average temperatures as additional solar radiation reaches the surface. The four seasons on earth are a product of the Earth's tilt, marked by two solstices and two equinoxes.Īt the summer solstice when the north pole is tilted toward the Sun, the day lasts longer and the sun appears higher in the sky. Now the northern hemisphere will begin its 6-month treck away from the Sun. Mountain Time on Sunday the northern hemisphere was at its greatest angle tilted toward the Sun marking the summer solstice. ![]()
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