The June solstice is known as the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere and the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere. The date varies between June 20 and June 22, depending on the year.
June Solstice in 2022 in Nova Scotia, Canada is on Monday, 21-Jun-2022 at 06:13am/18:13h ADT.
Solstice Dates Vary
Even though most people consider June 21 as the date of the June Solstice, it can happen anytime between June 20 and June 22, depending on which time zone you’re in. June 22 Solstices are rare – the last June 22 Solstice in UTC time took place in 1975 and there won’t be another one until 2203.
The varying dates of the solstice are mainly due to the calendar system – most western countries use the Gregorian calendar which has 365 days in a normal year and 366 days in a Leap Year.
A tropical year, the time it takes the Earth to orbit the Sun completely, is ca. 365.242199 days, but varies slightly from year to year because of the influence of other planets. The exact orbital and daily rotational motion of the Earth, such as the “wobble” in the Earth’s axis (precession of the equinoxes), also contributes to the changing solstice dates.
Zenith away from the equator
A solstice occurs when the sun’s zenith is at its furthest point from the equator. During the June solstice it reaches its northernmost point and the Earth’s North Pole tilts directly towards the sun, at about 23.5 degrees. It is also known as the northern solstice because it occurs when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere. If the Earth’s rotation was at right angles to the plane of its orbit around the sun, there would be no solstice days and no seasons.
Longest day in the north
The June solstice day has the most hours of daylight for people north of the equator. North of the Arctic Circle the midnight sun is visible (weather permitting) throughout the night.
Shortest day in the south
People south of the Antarctic Circle will not see sun at all during this time of the year. For those living near the equator, the sun does not shift up and down in the sky as much compared with other geographical locations away from the equator during this time of the year. This means that the length of day temperature does not vary as much.
Meaning of solstice
The June solstice marks the first day of the summer season in the northern hemisphere. The word solstice is from the Latin word “solstitium”, meaning “sun-stopping”, because the point at which the sun appears to rise and set stops and reverses direction after this day. On this day, the sun does not rise precisely in the east, but rises to the north of east and sets to the north of west allowing it to be in the sky for a longer period of time. In the southern hemisphere, the June solstice is known as the shortest day of the year. It is when the sun has reached its furthest point from the equator and marks the first day of winter.
Moving to other seasons
After the June solstice, the sun follows a lower and lower path through the sky each day in the northern hemisphere until it reaches the point where the length of daylight is about 12 hours and eight to nine minutes in areas that are about 30 degrees north or south of the equator, while areas that are 60 degrees north or south of the equator observe daylight for about 12 hours and 16 minutes. This is called the September equinox, which is also known as the autumnal equinox in the northern hemisphere. Many regions around the equator have a daylight length about 12 hours and six-and-a-half minutes during the equinox.
It is important to note that Earth does not move at a constant speed in its elliptical orbit. Therefore the seasons are not of equal length: the times taken for the sun to move from the March equinox to the June solstice, to the September equinox, to the December solstice, and back to the March equinox are roughly 92.8, 93.6, 89.8 and 89.0 days respectively. The consolation in the northern hemisphere is that spring and summer last longer than autumn and winter.
11 Facts About the June Solstice
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