Summer Solstice

earth · seasons · astronomy · daylight

Longest day ever. The summer solstice is when your hemisphere gets more hours of sunlight than any other day of the year. In many places, the sun is up for 16 hours or more.

Maximum tilt toward Sun. Earth is tilted like a spinning top, and on the summer solstice, your hemisphere leans as close to the Sun as it gets during the whole year. This tilt is why we have seasons.

Shortest night happens too. While you get the longest day, you also get the shortest night. Some places near the poles experience almost 24 hours of continuous daylight.

Happens twice yearly. The summer solstice occurs once in the Northern Hemisphere (around June 20) and once in the Southern Hemisphere (around December 21), so each hemisphere has its own longest day.

Opposite of winter. The summer solstice is the flip side of the winter solstice, which is the shortest day and longest night of the year.