When was summer solstice

Here's what skywatchers can expect to see as dads around the world celebrate on Sunday, as well as during the week following the summer solstice.

Beginning Sunday morning June 20 , Mercury appeared above the horizon about 30 minutes before sunrise and may be visible at dawn.

Solstice will occur at p. However, during the day, viewers in the Northern Hemisphere may experience more than 14 hours of sunlight. Later in the week, viewers will be treated to other skywatching events, starting Monday night June 21 , when Venus and the bright star Pollux will appear closest to each other a little over 5 degrees apart.

Summer is here! What to know about the summer solstice, aka 'longest day of the year'. Shanti Lerner Arizona Republic. Show Caption. Hide Caption. What exactly is the Summer Solstice? The longest day of the year marks the astronomical beginning of summer and it is here. In a year, two such events take place: Summer Solstice and the Winter Solstice. At this time, the Earth is at a point where its tilt is at the greatest angle to the plane of its orbit.

This results in one hemisphere receiving more sunlight and a longer day than the other. The celestial equator: an imaginary projection of the Earth's equator onto the sky. The autumnal equinox occurs in September, and in the Northern Hemisphere this date marks the end of Summer and beginning of Autumn.

Find out more about the autumnal equinox. This is why we have a leap year every four years to add another day to our calendar. For the same reason the precise time of the equinoxes are not the same each year. Generally they will occur about six hours later each year, with a jump of a day backwards on leap years.

The tilt of the Earth produces the seasons, including the changes in weather associated with them. When the northern hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun, it receives more direct sunlight and for a longer portion of the day, so the temperature increases. Similarly in winter, the reduction in sunlight hours and more glancing angle to the Sun means the air remains colder.

However, just as with the air in your home, the atmosphere and, more importantly, the oceans take time to heat up.

This means that even though the solstice marks the longest or shortest days and the most direct or indirect sunlight , there is a considerable lag between that and the peak of warm or cold weather.

As a result, meteorological weather-based summer starts at the beginning of June and ending with the last day of August. Astronomical summer can either begin on the solstice, or, if using length of days as a guide, be centred on the solstice, depending on the situation.