Welcome to the Longest Day of the Year
Yes indeed, Life is complicated. The complexities of Life cannot be understood without reference to the external dimensions of Time and Space. Every instant of Lifetime experience is a new experience which has not happened in the past and would not recur in the future for the man exists on the surface of a fast spinning planet which partakes in the motions of Sun and the motions of the Milky Way Galaxy. However, Time seems to flow in a cyclical manner and the man experiences the varying Seasons with constancy.
The June Solstice
In the Northern Hemisphere, the June Solstice (aka Summer Solstice) occurs when the Sun travels along its northernmost path in the sky. This marks the astronomical start of Summer in the northern half of the globe. (In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s the opposite: the June Solstice marks the astronomical start of winter, when the Sun is at its lowest point in the sky.)
When is the Summer Solstice?
The June solstice occurs on Thursday, June 20, 2024, at 4:50 P.M. EDT.
Imagine the Earth orbiting the Sun in space. As we know, our planet both revolves around the Sun and rotates around its own axis — an imaginary straight line through the Earth that runs from the North Pole to the South Pole.
This axis is not perpendicular to the Earth’s orbital plane but is tilted at about 23.5°. This is why throughout the year, the North and South poles lean towards the Sun at different angles.
So the moment when one of the Earth’s hemispheres reaches its maximum tilt toward the Sun is called the summer solstice in that hemisphere. On this day, it receives the most amount of sunlight, which results in the longest day of the year there.
The Solstice marks the official beginning of Summer in the Northern Hemisphere, occurring when Earth arrives at the point in its orbit where the North Pole is at its maximum tilt (about 23.5 degrees) toward the Sun, resulting in the longest day and shortest night of the calendar year. (By longest “day,” we mean the longest period of sunlight hours.) On the day of the June solstice, the Northern Hemisphere receives sunlight at the most direct angle of the year.
Astronomically speaking, a new season on any planet (not just the Earth) begins on either a solstice or an equinox. These natural phenomena were used by our ancestors to mark time for thousands of years; they became the basis for the astronomical calendar. But the dates of the solstices and equinoxes change every year, so the length of the seasons varies between 89 and 93 days, making it difficult to compare seasonal data.
To overcome this, meteorologists and climatologists created meteorological seasons, which divide the year into three-month periods based on annual temperature patterns. These seasons better match our civil calendar and are more consistent, making it much easier to calculate seasonal statistics from monthly statistics. Conveniently, both of them are very useful for various purposes, such as agriculture and commerce.
When do the days start getting shorter?
Days get shorter after the day of the summer solstice. This is the day when people experience the most daylight. Then the days become shorter and shorter, and by the autumnal equinox, the length of day and night are almost equal.
Locations closer to the poles experience greater differences in day length throughout the year, so summer days are longer there. In Whitehorse, Canada, which is far north, the longest day in 2024 will be 19 hours and 09 minutes. In Bogota, Colombia, near the equator, the longest day will last for 12 hours and 23 minutes.
Places within the polar circles experience Midnight Sun or polar day for a few days or months when the Sun does not set at all.
Summer on other planets
Every planet in the Solar System experiences seasons because they all have an axial tilt. Only Mercury has such a small axial tilt that we can’t even tell when one season ends and the next one begins. Let’s take a look at how long summer lasts on other planets.
- Venus: 55-58 days
- Earth: 89-93 days
- Mars: 7 months
- Jupiter: 3 years
- Saturn: about 7 years
- Uranus: 21 years
- Neptune: more than 40 years
Of all the planets, Uranus has the most interesting seasons due to its extreme axial tilt of 98° (the planet basically rotates on its side relative to the plane of the Solar System). Imagine a summer day that lasts for a quarter of your life! This is the case with Uranus, whose summer half faces the Sun continuously for 21 years. Meanwhile, the other (winter) half of this bizarre planet experiences 21 years of night. But in spring and autumn the situation changes. Around the equinoxes, sunlight hits the equatorial region of the planet. Uranus rotates on its axis every 17 hours and 14 minutes. This means that much of the planet has a fairly normal (for us on the Earth) day-night cycle of 17 hours.
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