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Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Science
- Yahoo
The summer solstice is today. Here's what to expect on the 1st day of summer.
Today will be the longest day of 2025 in the Northern Hemisphere, kicking off the coveted summer season. The 2025 summer solstice is expected to officially start on June 20 at 10:42 p.m. ET, according to the Farmers Almanac. It's at that time that the sun will be at its northernmost point for the Northern Hemisphere. Astronomers recognize the summer solstice as the first day of summer, although it's not necessarily considered the 'official' start of summer. 'The June solstice marks a precise moment in Earth's orbit — a consistent astronomical signpost that humans have observed for millennia,' NASA says. 'Ancient structures from Stonehenge to Chichén Itzá were built, in part, to align with the solstices, demonstrating how important these celestial events were to many cultures.' Thousands of visitors are expected to flock to areas throughout the Northern Hemisphere to celebrate through rituals: from Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England, to midsummer festivals across Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. Here's what to know about the summer solstice. 'Solstice' comes from the Latin words 'sol' (meaning sun) and 'sistere' (to stand still), according to the Farmers' Almanac, and it describes the Earth's angle between the sun's rays. The summer solstice is the longest day of the year for the Northern Hemisphere because this is when the Earth's north pole is tilted toward the sun at its most extreme angle. Solstices only happen twice a year, the second time being when the Northern Hemisphere experiences its winter solstice in December, which is when the Earth's south pole is tilted toward the sun at its most extreme angle. On Friday, the Northern Hemisphere will experience its official first days of summer and longest hours of daylight for the entire year. Areas around the equator will experience sunlight for about 12 hours straight, according to while more mid-northern areas will get 15 hours. Since the Earth's north pole is tilted so close to the sun, areas north of the Arctic Circle will experience sunlight for 24 hours. The summer solstice can happen anytime between June 20 and June 22, depending on the time zone. While we measure years in 365 days — or 366 days for a leap year — astronomically speaking, Earth actually takes 365.242199 days to orbit the sun. This affects what time and day the summer solstice will actually occur. In a lot of Northern Hemisphere locations, areas will experience earlier sunrises before the official solstice day, and some later sunsets happen days after it, according to Time and Date, a global platform that analyzes time zone and astronomy data. The solstice day never being official or aligned every year is common since the sun's solar time is never precise or consistent with how our clocks and calendars operate. Astronomers have studied the sun's timing compared to how we measure time with clocks and calendars, and refer to the difference as 'the equation of time.' Solstices and equinoxes seem to kick off a change in the seasons on Earth, but there are significant differences between the two experiences. Just compare the 2025 spring equinox, which happened on March 20, to what is expected to happen during the upcoming summer solstice on Friday. Summer and winter solstices are when the Earth's tilt toward the sun is at its maximum, so the summer solstice is when the Northern Hemisphere experiences its longest day of sunlight and shortest night, and the winter solstice is when the Northern Hemisphere experiences its shortest day of sunlight and longest night. During an equinox, the Earth is not tilted anywhere directly, and the sun falls right over the equator, which means that there will be 'nearly' equal amounts of daylight and darkness at all latitudes, according to the National Weather Service.
Forbes
6 hours ago
- Science
- Forbes
Summer Solstice 2025: The Exact Time For Every U.S. State
The 2025 solstice — the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the shortest in the Southern Hemisphere — will occur at 02:42 UTC on Saturday, June 21. However, in North America, it happens the previous day. People watch the sun rise, as they take part in the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge in Wiltshire, ... More Friday, June 21, 2024. (Andrew Matthews/PA Wire/PA via AP) June's solstice marks the longest day of the year and the beginning of astronomical summer in the Northern Hemisphere. It's not only the longest day but also the point when daylight begins to shorten. The solstice occurs at a specific global time (02:42 UTC on June 21), so its local time varies across U.S. time zones. The 2025 summer solstice occurs at 10:42 p.m. EDT, 9:42 p.m. CDT, 8:42 p.m. MDT, 7:42 p.m. PDT, 6:42 p.m. AKDT and 4:42 p.m. HST on Friday, June 20. At that precise moment, the sun will be directly overhead at the Tropic of Cancer at noon somewhere on Earth. It's the northernmost point of the sun at noon. Solstice is from the Latin solstitium, sol meaning sun and stit being stationary. That's because, as a consequence of the sun reaching its highest in the sky in the Northern Hemisphere, its rise and set points are at their extreme northeast and northwest, respectively. To the observer, the sun appears to rise farther northeast until June's solstice, when it appears to stand still for a few mornings before rising farther east and south. Although Stonehenge is traditionally associated with the solstice (it's aligned with the rising sun on the solstice), there are other ancient monuments with a solstice link. Egypt's Nabta Playa stone circle, the oldest known astronomical site, tracks the solstice, with no shadows cast by its stones at noon on the date of the solstice. According to Astronomy magazine, Nabta Playa was constructed by a cattle-worshiping cult of nomadic people to mark the summer solstice and the arrival of the monsoons. At 7,000 years old, it's older than Stonehenge. The 2025 solstice will occur at 02:42 UTC on Saturday, June 21, 2025. The Tropic of Cancer is a line 23.4 degrees north of the Earth's equator through The Bahamas, Mexico, Egypt, Libya, Niger, Algeria, Mauritania, Mali, Chad, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, India, Myanmar, China and Taiwan. It reflects the tilt of the Earth's axis, which explains why the planet has solstices, equinoxes and seasons. The beginning of astronomical seasons is marked by solstices and equinoxes (equinox means equal night when there are 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness). The spring or vernal equinox occurs between March 19-21, the June solstice June 20 and 22, the September equinox September 21-24 and the December solstice is December 20-23, according to In 2025, they occur on March 20, June 20, Sept. 22 and Dec. 21, respectively.
BBC News
a day ago
- Science
- BBC News
Summer solstice 2025: When is it and what does it mean?
For some it marks a celebration at dawn. For others, it is the start of summer and the promise of warmer days to summer solstice is the longest day of the year, meaning the day with the most hours of year, the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere falls on Saturday, 21 with parts of the UK already experiencing their first heatwave of the year it's likely to be a warm one. Why does the date change? The solstice always occurs between June 20 and 22, and during a leap year, it typically falls on June exact date shifts slightly each year because the calendar year doesn't perfectly match the time it takes for the Earth to orbit the fact, the Earth takes nearly a quarter of a day longer to complete its orbit each year than our calendar accounts discrepancy is why we add a leap day every four years—to keep the calendar aligned with Earth's orbit Why does the amount of sunlight vary? Our planet does not spin on a perfectly vertical axis — it is tilt causes the amount of sunlight that reaches different regions of Earth to change throughout the year as it orbits the half the year, the northern half of the Earth is tilted toward the Sun. On the summer solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted most directly toward the Sun, and the Sun appears directly overhead at the Tropic of this tilt, we would still experience weather, but not distinct seasons, as the amount of daylight would remain nearly constant throughout the word solstice comes from the Latin words sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still), referring to the apparent pause in the Sun's movement across the sky. How much daylight will there be? Due to the tilt of the Earth, the period of daylight will be longer at higher this time, Norway, Finland, Greenland, Alaska and other polar regions experience 'midnight sun'. And across the Arctic Circle, down to a latitude of 23.5 degrees from the North Pole (matching the tilt of the Earth), the Sun does not set at it may be the longest day but it is not the latest sunset or the earliest sunrise. The earliest sunrises happen before the summer solstice, and the latest sunsets happen after. Check sunrise and sunset times where you are on the BBC Weather app and website. Is this the start of summer? Meteorologically, we are nearly a month into summer. Astronomically, however, the solstice marks the beginning of most people refer to the first day of summer, they mean astronomical summer—the summer contrast, meteorologists define summer in the Northern Hemisphere as beginning on June 1 and ending on August seasons are divided into four three-month periods, which makes it easier to compare seasonal statistics. Will this be the warmest summer solstice on record? Some parts of the UK are already experiencing their first heatwave of the year and forecasters expect temperatures to peak at around 33C on it is unlikely to be the highest temperature experienced on the day of the summer solstice. That record was set in 2017 at Heathrow Airport when 34.5C was while the summer solstice is the day with the most sunlight, the UK's weather becomes hotter later in the summer, when more heat has accumulated in the air and the ground.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Science
- The Independent
Astronomer reveals the exact minute of this year's summer solstice
The summer solstice marks the official start of summer. It brings the longest day and shortest night of the year for the 88 per cent of Earth 's people who live in the Northern Hemisphere. People around the world traditionally observe the change of seasons with bonfires and festivals, and Fête de la Musique celebrations. Astronomers can calculate an exact moment for the solstice, when Earth reaches the point in its orbit where the North Pole is angled closest to the Sun. That moment will be at 10.42pm Eastern Time on June 20 this year - or 3.42am on June 21 in the United Kingdom. In Europe, Africa and points eastward, the moment of the equinox falls on June 21 locally, making that the day of the solstice. From Earth, the Sun will appear farthest north relative to the stars. People living on the Tropic of Cancer, 23.5 degrees north of the Equator, will see the Sun pass straight overhead at noon. Six months from now, the Sun will reach its southern extreme and pass overhead for people on the Tropic of Capricorn, and northerners will experience their shortest days of the year at the winter solstice. The Sun's angle relative to Earth's equator changes so gradually close to the solstices that, without instruments, the shift is difficult to perceive for about 10 days. This is the origin of the word solstice, which means 'solar standstill.' This slow shift means that daylight on June 20 is only about 2 seconds longer than on June 21, at mid-northern latitudes in the United States. It will be about a week before there's more than a minute change to the calculated amount of daylight. Even that's an approximation — Earth's atmosphere bends light over the horizon by different amounts depending on weather, which can introduce changes of more than a minute to sunrise and sunset times. Monuments at Stonehenge in England, Karnak in Egypt, and Chankillo in Peru reveal that people around the world have taken note of the Sun's northern and southern travels for more than 5,000 years. From Stonehenge's circle of standing stones, the Sun will rise directly over an ancient avenue leading away to the northeast on the solstice. We know little about the people who built Stonehenge, or why they went to such great effort to construct it, moving multi-ton stones from rock outcrops as far as 140 miles away. All this to mark the spot on the horizon where the Sun returns each year to rest for a while before moving south again. Perhaps they, like us, celebrated this signal of the coming change of seasons. Stephen Schneider is a Professor of Astronomy at UMass Amherst.
Times of Oman
2 days ago
- Climate
- Times of Oman
Oman to welcome summer solstice, Dhofar's Khareef season on Saturday
Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman will witness the summer solstice phenomenon next Saturday as the sun aligns directly over the Tropic of Cancer, marking the official astronomical start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. This year's summer season will last approximately 93 days, 15 hours, and 37 minutes, according to astronomical calculations. Al Mukhtar Saif Al Saeedi, a member of Oman Astronomical Society, explained that this year's summer solstice will occur precisely at 6:42 AM Oman time on Saturday, 21 June. In Muscat Governorate, residents will experience the longest day of the year, with sunrise at 5:21 AM, the sun reaching its highest point at 12:09 PM, and sunset at 6:57 PM - resulting in a day length of 13 hours, 35 minutes, and 35 seconds. This phenomenon creates the longest daylight period and shortest night of the year across most Northern Hemisphere regions, including Europe, Asia, North America, and the Arctic Circle. The summer solstice represents a significant astronomical event where the Northern Hemisphere experiences its maximum tilt toward the sun, while simultaneously marking the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere. The summer solstice coincides with several notable natural phenomena in Oman. Astronomically, it signals the beginning of Dhofar's Khareef season (monsoon season) along the coastal regions from Dhalkut in the west to Mirbat in the east, when monsoon winds carry moisture-laden clouds from the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.
