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Summer solstice

Summary

UT date and time of
equinoxes and solstices on Earth[1][2]
event equinox solstice equinox solstice
month March[3] June[4] September[5] December[6]
year day time day time day time day time
2019 20 21:58 21 15:54 23 07:50 22 04:19
2020 20 03:50 20 21:43 22 13:31 21 10:03
2021 20 09:37 21 03:32 22 19:21 21 15:59
2022 20 15:33 21 09:14 23 01:04 21 21:48
2023 20 21:25 21 14:58 23 06:50 22 03:28
2024 20 03:07 20 20:51 22 12:44 21 09:20
2025 20 09:02 21 02:42 22 18:20 21 15:03
2026 20 14:46 21 08:25 23 00:06 21 20:50
2027 20 20:25 21 14:11 23 06:02 22 02:43
2028 20 02:17 20 20:02 22 11:45 21 08:20
2029 20 08:01 21 01:48 22 17:37 21 14:14

The summer solstice or estival solstice[i] occurs when one of Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the summer solstice is the day with the longest period of daylight and shortest night of the year, when the Sun is at its highest position in the sky. At either pole there is continuous daylight at the time of its summer solstice. The opposite event is the winter solstice.

Earth during the summer solstice in June 2017

The summer solstice occurs during the hemisphere's summer. In the Northern Hemisphere, this is the June solstice (20 or 21 June) and in the Southern Hemisphere, this is the December solstice (21 or 22 of December). Since prehistory, the summer solstice has been a significant time of year in many cultures, and has been marked by festivals and rituals. Traditionally, in temperate regions (especially Europe), the summer solstice is seen as the middle of summer and referred to as midsummer; although today in some countries and calendars it is seen as the beginning of summer.

On the summer solstice, Earth's maximum axial tilt toward the Sun is 23.44°.[7] Likewise, the Sun's declination from the celestial equator is 23.44°.

Diagram of Earth's seasons as seen from the north. Far left: summer solstice for the Northern Hemisphere. Front right: summer solstice for the Southern Hemisphere.

Although the summer solstice is the longest day of the year for that hemisphere, the dates of earliest sunrise and latest sunset vary by a few days.[8] This is because Earth orbits the Sun in an ellipse, and its orbital speed varies slightly during the year.[7]

Culture edit

 
The solstice being celebrated at Stonehenge in England

There is evidence that the summer solstice has been culturally important since the Neolithic era. Many ancient monuments in Europe especially, as well as parts of the Middle East, Asia and the Americas, are aligned with the sunrise or sunset on the summer solstice (see archaeoastronomy).[9][10] The significance of the summer solstice has varied among cultures, but most recognize the event in some way with holidays, festivals, and rituals around that time with themes of fertility.[11] In the Roman Empire, the traditional date of the summer solstice was 24 June.[12] In Germanic-speaking cultures, the time around the summer solstice is called 'midsummer'. Traditionally in northern Europe midsummer was reckoned as the night of 23–24 June, with summer beginning on May Day.[13] The summer solstice continues to be seen as the middle of summer in many European cultures, but in some cultures or calendars it is seen as summer's beginning.[14] In Sweden, midsummer is one of the year's major holidays when the country closes down as much as during Christmas.

Observances edit

Traditional festivals
Modern observances

Length of the day on northern summer solstice edit

The following tables contain information on the length of the day on 20 June 2016, close to the summer solstice of the Northern Hemisphere and winter solstice of the Southern Hemisphere. The data was collected from the website of the Finnish Meteorological Institute[15] as well as from certain other websites.[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]

The data is arranged geographically and within the tables from the longest day to the shortest one. Times that occur the next day (21 June) are marked with +.

Fennoscandia and the Baltic states
City Sunrise
20 June 2016 		Sunset
20 June 2016 		Length of the day
  Murmansk — — 24 h
  Apatity — — 24 h
  Bodø — — 24 h
  Rovaniemi — — 24 h
  Luleå 1:00 0:05+ 23 h 04 min
  Arkhangelsk 1:34 23:04 21 h 30 min
  Reykjavík 2:55 0:03+ 21 h 08 min
  Trondheim 3:02 23:37 20 h 35 min
  Tórshavn 3:36 23:21 19 h 45 min
  Petrozavodsk 2:55 22:33 19 h 38 min
  Helsinki 3:54 22:49 18 h 55 min
  Saint Petersburg 3:35 22:25 18 h 50 min
  Oslo 3:53 22:43 18 h 49 min
  Tallinn 4:03 22:42 18 h 39 min
  Stockholm 3:30 22:07 18 h 37 min
  Riga 4:29 22:21 17 h 52 min
  Copenhagen 4:25 21:57 17 h 32 min
  Vilnius 4:41 21:59 17 h 17 min
Europe
City Sunrise
20 June 2016 		Sunset
20 June 2016 		Length of the day
  Edinburgh 4:26 22:02 17 h 36 min
  Moscow 3:44 21:17 17 h 33 min
  Berlin 4:43 21:33 16 h 49 min
  Warsaw 4:14 21:00 16 h 46 min
  London 4:43 21:21 16 h 38 min
  Kyiv 4:46 21:12 16 h 26 min
  Paris 5:46 21:57 16 h 10 min
  Vienna 4:53 20:58 16 h 04 min
  Budapest 4:46 20:44 15 h 58 min
  Zürich 5:29 21:25 15 h 56 min
  Rome 5:34 20:48 15 h 13 min
  Madrid 6:44 21:48 15 h 03 min
  Lisbon 6:11 21:04 14 h 52 min
  Athens 6:02 20:50 14 h 48 min
Africa
City Sunrise
20 June 2016 		Sunset
20 June 2016 		Length of the day
  Cairo 4:54 18:59 14 h 04 min
  Tenerife 7:08 21:05 13 h 57 min
  Dakar 6:41 19:41 12 h 59 min
  Addis Ababa 6:07 18:46 12 h 38 min
  Nairobi 6:32 18:35 12 h 02 min
  Kinshasa 6:04 17:56 11 h 52 min
  Dar es Salaam 6:32 18:16 11 h 43 min
  Luanda 6:20 17:56 11 h 36 min
  Jamestown 6:49 17:59 11 h 10 min
  Antananarivo 6:21 17:21 10 h 59 min
  Windhoek 6:30 17:15 10 h 44 min
  Johannesburg 6:54 17:24 10 h 29 min
  Cape Town 7:51 17:44 9 h 53 min
Middle East
City Sunrise
20 June 2016 		Sunset
20 June 2016 		Length of the day
  Tehran 5:48 20:23 14 h 34 min
  Beirut 5:27 19:52 14 h 24 min
  Baghdad 4:53 19:14 14 h 21 min
  Jerusalem 5:33 19:47 14 h 13 min
  Manama 4:45 18:32 13 h 46 min
  Doha 4:44 18:26 13 h 42 min
  Dubai 5:29 19:11 13 h 42 min
  Riyadh 5:04 18:44 13 h 39 min
  Muscat 5:19 18:55 13 h 35 min
  Sana'a 5:33 18:35 13 h 02 min
Americas
City Sunrise
20 June 2016 		Sunset
20 June 2016 		Length of the day
  Inuvik — — 24 h
  Fairbanks 2:57 0:47+ 21 h 49 min
  Nuuk 2:53 0:03+ 21 h 09 min
  Iqaluit 2:11 23:00 20 h 49 min
  Anchorage 4:20 23:41 19 h 21 min
  Kodiak 5:07 23:14 18 h 06 min
  Sitka 4:06 22:00 17 h 54 min
  Unalaska 6:34 23:41 17 h 06 min
  Edmonton 5:04 22:07 17 h 02 min
  Winnipeg 5:19 21:40 16 h 21 min
  Vancouver 5:06 21:21 16 h 14 min
  Seattle 5:11 21:10 15 h 59 min
  Ottawa 5:14 20:54 15 h 40 min
  Toronto 5:35 21:02 15 h 26 min
  New York 5:24 20:30 15 h 05 min
  Washington, D.C. 5:42 20:36 14 h 53 min
  Los Angeles 5:42 20:07 14 h 25 min
  Miami 6:30 20:14 13 h 44 min
  Havana 6:44 20:17 13 h 33 min
  Honolulu 5:50 19:16 13 h 25 min
  Mexico City 6:59 20:17 13 h 18 min
  Kingston 5:32 18:45 13 h 13 min
  Bridgetown 5:33 18:27 12 h 54 min
  Managua 5:21 18:11 12 h 50 min
  Port of Spain 5:45 18:30 12 h 45 min
  Georgetown 5:38 18:09 12 h 31 min
  Bogotá 5:46 18:09 12 h 23 min
  Quito 6:12 18:19 12 h 06 min
  Lima 6:27 17:52 11 h 24 min
  La Paz 6:59 18:08 11 h 08 min
  Rio de Janeiro 6:32 17:16 10 h 43 min
  São Paulo 6:47 17:28 10 h 40 min
  Porto Alegre 7:20 17:32 10 h 12 min
  Santiago 7:46 17:42 9 h 56 min
  Buenos Aires 8:00 17:50 9 h 49 min
  Ushuaia 9:58 17:11 7 h 12 min
Asia and Oceania
City Sunrise
20 June 2016 		Sunset
20 June 2016 		Length of the day
  Provideniya 0:52 22:16 21 h 23 min
  Magadan 3:37 22:19 18 h 41 min
  Petropavlovsk 4:58 21:55 16 h 56 min
  Khabarovsk 4:57 21:04 16 h 07 min
  Ulaanbaatar 5:52 21:54 16 h 01 min
  Vladivostok 5:32 20:55 15 h 22 min
  Beijing 4:45 19:46 15 h 00 min
  Seoul 5:11 19:56 14 h 46 min
  Tokyo 4:25 19:00 14 h 34 min
  Shanghai 4:50 19:01 14 h 10 min
  Lhasa 6:55 20:58 14 h 03 min
  Delhi 5:23 19:21 13 h 58 min
  Kathmandu 5:08 19:02 13 h 53 min
  Taipei 5:04 18:46 13 h 41 min
  Hong Kong 5:39 19:09 13 h 30 min
  Manila 5:27 18:27 12 h 59 min
  Bangkok 5:51 18:47 12 h 56 min
  Singapore 7:00 19:12 12 h 11 min
  Jakarta 6:01 17:47 11 h 45 min
  Darwin 7:06 18:29 11 h 23 min
  Papeete 6:27 17:32 11 h 04 min
  Sydney 6:59 16:53 9 h 53 min
  Auckland 7:33 17:11 9 h 37 min
  Melbourne 7:35 17:07 9 h 32 min
  Dunedin 8:19 16:59 8 h 39 min

The length of day increases from the equator towards the North Pole in the Northern Hemisphere in June (around the summer solstice there), but decreases towards the South Pole in the Southern Hemisphere at the time of the southern winter solstice.

Notes edit

  1. ^ Also aestival solstice in British English. From Latin aestīvus, 'summer'.

References edit

  1. ^ Astronomical Applications Department of USNO. "Earth's Seasons - Equinoxes, Solstices, Perihelion, and Aphelion". Retrieved 2022-08-01.
  2. ^ "Solstices and Equinoxes: 2001 to 2100". AstroPixels.com. 20 February 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  3. ^ Équinoxe de printemps entre 1583 et 2999
  4. ^ Solstice d’été de 1583 à 2999
  5. ^ Équinoxe d’automne de 1583 à 2999
  6. ^ Solstice d’hiver
  7. ^ a b "The Long Story (USNO explanation)". Archived from the original on 18 June 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  8. ^ "US Naval Observatory: Sunrise and Sunset Times Near the Solstices". Archived from the original on 18 June 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  9. ^ Papadopoulos, Costas; Moyes, Holley, eds. (2021). The Oxford Handbook of Light in Archaeology. Oxford University Press.
  10. ^ Kelley, David; Milone, Eugene (2005). Exploring Ancient Skies: An Encyclopedic Survey of Archaeoastronomy. Springer Publishing.
  11. ^ "Summer solstice celebrations of Christianity, Judaism, Neopaganism, etc". Religioustolerance.org. Archived from the original on 2011-06-28. Retrieved 2011-06-20.
  12. ^ O'Neill, William Matthew (1976). Time and the Calendars. Manchester University Press. p. 85.
  13. ^ Harper, Douglas. "midsummer". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2023-06-22.
  14. ^ "The Astronomical vs. Meteorological Seasons". Archived from the original on 2016-11-14. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
  15. ^ "Paikallissää Helsinki" [Local weather in Helsinki] (in Finnish). Finnish Meteorological Institute. 2016-06-20. Retrieved 2016-06-20.
  16. ^ "Jamestown, Saint Helena". Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  17. ^ "Fairbanks". Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  18. ^ "Nuuk". Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  19. ^ "Iqaluit". Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  20. ^ "Sitka". Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  21. ^ "Unalaska". Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  22. ^ "Provideniya". Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  23. ^ "Katmandu". Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  24. ^ "Edmonton, Canada". Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  25. ^ "Inuvik, Canada". Retrieved 2020-12-19.
  26. ^ "Winnipeg, Canada". Retrieved 2021-07-31.

External links edit

  • SummerSolstice.uk - Summer Solstice Dates, Information & Community.
  • NeoProgrammics - Table of Northern/Southern Solstice Dates/Times From 1600–2400

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