![]() Jun 21, 2017. The summer solstice is upon us: June 20th and the 21st will be the longest days of 2017 for anyone living north of the equator. If pagan rituals are your thing, this is probably a big moment for you. If not, the solstice is still pretty neat. Technically speaking, the summer solstice occurs when the sun is directly. It's that beautiful time of year again in the Northern Hemisphere, when the June solstice - your signal to celebrate summer - is nearly upon us. The summer solstice is upon us: June 20th and the 21st will be the longest days of 2017 for anyone living north of the equator. If pagan rituals are your thing, this is. If not, the solstice is still pretty neat. Technically speaking, the summer solstice occurs when the sun is directly overhead the Tropic of Cancer, or 23.5° north latitude. In 2017, this will occur at exactly 12:24 am (Eastern) on the 21st. (But we can celebrate on either day.) Below is a short scientific guide to the longest day of the year (though not, as we’ll see, the longest day in Earth’s history — that happened back in 1912). 1) Why do we have a summer solstice, anyway? ![]() Okay, most people know this one. Earth orbits around the sun on a tilted axis (probably with some other massive object billions of years ago, back when it was still being formed). So between March and September, Earth’s Northern Hemisphere gets more exposure to direct sunlight over the course of a day. The rest of the year, the Southern Hemisphere gets more. It’s the reason for the seasons: () In the Northern Hemisphere, 'peak' sunlight usually occurs on June 20, 21, or 22 of any given year. That’s the summer solstice. By contrast, the Southern Hemisphere reaches peak sunlight on December 21, 22, or 23 and the north hits peak darkness — that’s our winter solstice. () 2) How many hours of sunlight will I get on Tuesday? That depends on where you live. The further north you are, the more sunlight you’ll see during the solstice. Alaska-based climatologist created: On the off chance you live near the Arctic Circle, the sun never really sets during the solstice. (By contrast, during the winter solstice, Fairbanks only gets about three hours of sunlight.) Here’s another cool way to visualize the extreme of the summer solstice. In 2013, a resident of Alberta, Canada — several hundred miles south of Fairbanks, but still in a high latitude — took this photograph of the sun’s path throughout the year, and shared it with the astronomy. You can see the dramatic change in the arc of the sun from December to June. (You can easily make a similar image at home. All you need is a can, photo paper, some tape, and a pin..). This is a 6 month pinhole photo taken from solstice to solstice, in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. We are one of the sunniest cities in Canada, and this shows it nicely.Posted by on Note that the solstice also gives us the longest twilight of the year, usually about after sunset. (Brettschneider has more charts on that; his is worth your time.) Side note: This year, coincides with the solstice. (Ramadan’s dates vary each year, but in 2017 it runs from May 26 to June 24.) Which makes for a grueling challenge in some places: Muslims are supposed to fast until sunset during Ramadan, but for those living in Norway, Sweden, or Iceland, daylight can last up to 20 hours. 'In these cases,' Vox's Jennifer Williams, 'Muslim religious authorities have decreed that Muslims can either fast along with the closest Muslim country or fast along with Mecca, Saudi Arabia.' 3) Is the solstice the latest sunset of the year? Not necessarily. Just because June 20 is the longest day of the year for the Northern Hemisphere doesn’t mean every location has its earliest sunrise or latest sunset on that day. If you live in Washington, DC, you missed the earliest sunrise — it happened back on June 13. But you can still catch the latest sunset on June 27. If you like, that’s arguably the most exciting day of the summer. 4) What does all this have to do with Stonehenge? No one really knows why was built some 5,000 years ago (at least I don’t, sorry).
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