Meteorologically speaking, summer is defined as the hottest three months of the year, winter is the coldest three months, and the in -between months are spring and fall. Well, depends: Are you asking a meteorologist or an astronomer? Like so: NASA 2) Is the solstice really the first day of winter? In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice occurs when the sun is directly overhead the Tropic of Capricorn, or 23.5° south latitude. 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. In the Northern Hemisphere, “peak” sunlight usually occurs on June 20, 21 or 22 of any given year. All you need is a can, photo paper, some tape, and a pin. (You can easily make a similar image at home. We are one of the sunniest cities in Canada, and this shows it nicely.Posted by Ian Hennes on Saturday, December 21, 2013 This is a 6 month pinhole photo taken from solstice to solstice, in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. You can see the dramatic change in the arc of the sun from December to June. In 2013, a resident of Alberta, Canada, took this pinhole camera photograph of the sun’s path throughout the year and shared it with the astronomy website EarthSky. NASA/ Meteosat/ Robert SimmonĪnd here’s yet another cool way to visualize the seasons. 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 winter and summer 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. In 2019, this will occur at 11:19 pm Eastern time on Saturday.īelow is a short scientific guide to the solstice and the longest night of the year. Technically, the solstice occurs when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, or 23.5° south latitude. If not, the official first day of winter is neat for other reasons, too. If pagan rituals are your thing, this is probably a big moment for you. The winter solstice is almost upon us: Saturday, December 21, is the shortest day of 2019 for anyone living in the Northern Hemisphere.
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