Why do northern and Southern Hemisphere experience summer solstice in different times of the year?

Answer the following question briefly.
Why does the Southern Hemisphere experience Winter and Summer Solstice in different times than that of the Northern Hemisphere?

When the North Pole is tilted towards the Sun, the Northern Hemisphere experiences Summer Solstice. At this time, since the South Pole is tilted away from the Sun, the Southern Hemisphere experiences Winter Solstice.
When the North Pole is tilted away from the Sun, the Northern Hemisphere experiences Winter Solstice. At this time, since the South Pole is tilted towards the Sun, the Southern Hemisphere experiences Summer Solstice.

Concept: Motions of the Earth

  Is there an error in this question or solution?

UT date and time of
equinoxes and solstices on Earth[1][2]

event equinox solstice equinox solstice
month March June September December
year day time day time day time day time
2017 20 10:29 21 04:25 22 20:02 21 16:29
2018 20 16:15 21 10:07 23 01:54 21 22:22
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

The summer solstice, also called the estival solstice[3] or midsummer, 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. Within the Arctic circle (for the Northern hemisphere) or Antarctic circle (for the Southern), there is continuous daylight around the summer solstice. The opposite event is the winter solstice.

Why do northern and Southern Hemisphere experience summer solstice in different times of the year?

Earth during the summer solstice in June 2017

The summer solstice occurs during summer.[4] This is the June solstice (usually 20 or 21 June) in the Northern hemisphere[5][6] and the December solstice (usually 21 or 22 December) in the Southern.[7] On the summer solstice, Earth's maximum axial tilt toward the Sun is 23.44°.[8] Likewise, the Sun's declination from the celestial equator is 23.44°.

Since prehistory, the summer solstice has been seen as a significant time of year in many cultures, and has been marked by festivals and rituals. Traditionally, in many 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.

 

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.[9] This is because Earth orbits the Sun in an ellipse, and its orbital speed varies slightly during the year.[8]

Although the Sun appears at its highest altitude from the viewpoint of an observer in outer space or a terrestrial observer outside tropical latitudes, the highest altitude occurs on a different day for certain locations in the tropics, specifically those where the Sun is directly overhead (maximum 90 degrees elevation) at the subsolar point. This day occurs twice each year for all locations between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn because the overhead Sun appears to cross a given latitude once before the day of the solstice and once afterward. For example, Lahaina Noon occurs in May and July in Hawaii. See solstice article. For all observers, the apparent position of the noon Sun is at its most northerly point on the June solstice and most southerly on the December solstice.

The year 2016 was the first time in nearly 70 years that a full moon and the Northern Hemisphere's summer solstice occurred on the same day.[10] The 2016 summer solstice's full moon rose just as the Sun set.[11]

The significance given to 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 religion or fertility.[12] For example, in Sweden, midsummer is one of the year's major holidays when the country closes down as much as during Christmas. In some regions, the summer solstice is seen as the beginning of summer and the end of spring. In other cultural conventions, the solstice occurs during summer.[13]

 

Summer solstice sunset over the Mojave Desert 7:54 p.m. PDT (19:54) June 20, 2016

 

Longreach, Queensland at mid-day of Summer Solstice (with respect to southern hemisphere) or Winter Solstice (with respect to Northern hemisphere), 22 December 2019. The town is on the Tropic of Capricorn (Shadow directly below the sign)

Solstice is derived from the Latin words sol (Sun) and sistere (to stand still).

 

  • Midsummer
  • Noc Kupały (Poland)
  • Dragon Boat Festival (East Asia)
  • Christmas typically marks the southern summer solstice.
  • Saint John's Eve or June solstice celebration (Catalan countries)
  • Day of Private Reflection (Northern Ireland)
  • Jaanipäev (Estonia)
  • Juhannus (Finland)
  • Jāņi (Latvia)
  • Rasos (Lithuania)
  • National Indigenous Peoples Day (Canada)
  • Tiregān (Iran)
  • Fremont Solstice Parade (Fremont, Seattle, Washington, United States)
  • Santa Barbara Summer Solstice Parade (Santa Barbara, California, United States)
  • International Surfing Day
  • International Yoga Day
  • Fête de la Musique, also known as World Music Day
  • Inti Raymi, Machu Picchu, Peru
  • We Tripantu, (Mapuche, southern Chile)
  • Willkakuti, an Andean-Amazonic New Year (Aymara)

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[14] as well as from certain other websites.[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]

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 00:47+ 21 h 49 min
  Nuuk 2:53 00:03+ 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
  Managua 5:21 18:11 12 h 50 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

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.

  • Daytime
  • Stonehenge
  • Tekufah
  • Xiazhi (Summer solstice in Chinese culture)

  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. ^ From the Latin aestīvus = summer.
  4. ^ "When does spring start?". Archived from the original on 2016-11-25. Retrieved 2016-11-12.
  5. ^ "The June Solstice". Time and Date AS. Archived from the original on 2012-02-04. Retrieved 2012-01-30.
  6. ^ "Solstice (astronomy)". Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 2011-06-25. Retrieved 2011-06-20.
  7. ^ "December Solstice". Time and Date AS. Archived from the original on 2012-01-18. Retrieved 2012-01-30.
  8. ^ a b "The Long Story (USNO explanation)". Archived from the original on 18 June 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  9. ^ "US Naval Observatory: Sunrise and Sunset Times Near the Solstices". Archived from the original on 18 June 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2017.
  10. ^ "Full Moon and Winter Solstice coincide on the same day". The Old Farmer's Almanac. Archived from the original on 23 June 2016. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  11. ^ "Full Moon and Summer Solstice coincide on the same day". The Old Farmer's Almanac. Archived from the original on 22 June 2016. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  12. ^ "Summer solstice celebrations of Christianity, Judaism, Neopaganism, etc". Religioustolerance.org. Archived from the original on 2011-06-28. Retrieved 2011-06-20.
  13. ^ "The Astronomical vs. Meteorological Seasons". Archived from the original on 2016-11-14. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
  14. ^ "Paikallissää Helsinki" [‘Local weather in Helsinki’] (in Finnish). Finnish Meteorological Institute. 2016-06-20. Retrieved 2016-06-20.
  15. ^ "Jamestown, Saint Helena". Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  16. ^ "Fairbanks". Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  17. ^ "Nuuk". Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  18. ^ "Iqaluit". Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  19. ^ "Sitka". Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  20. ^ "Unalaska". Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  21. ^ "Provideniya". Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  22. ^ "Katmandu". Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  23. ^ "Edmonton, Canada". Retrieved 2016-06-22.
  24. ^ "Inuvik, Canada". Retrieved 2020-12-19.
  25. ^ "Winnipeg, Canada". Retrieved 2021-07-31.

  • NeoProgrammics - Table of Northern/Southern Solstice Dates/Times From 1600–2400

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Summer_solstice&oldid=1102108099"