solstices

[mandimoo]

we talk of the summer solstice being the longest day. i like to think of it as the shortest night BUT is it the night before or after that is shorter? or are they both as short as each other?

[dot.hawkes]

whilst your musings and pondering are both complex and profound, i cannot quite decipher the suggestion, but nor can i find you quite the right answer.

[mycats]

If you think of it as the shortest night, then the night before it is obviously longer and the night after it is obviously longer too, er hang on.......

[dot.hawkes]

(dot looks at mycat's confused frown)
yes, go on...........

[yinyang]

Do you mean - is it the night that turns into the longest day that's the shortest or the night that the longest day turns into ? umm, that made perfect sense in my head.
As the sun sets latest on the longest day I guess it would be that night that would be the shortest. Or does the sun rise earlier.
Oh Gawd. Right , I need paper , pencils, a calendar and a compass...

[mycats]

sob I dont wanna Dot, I'm confused wail

[jan1956]

it's a question of which came first the night or the day, not a chicken or egg in sight.

[mandimoo]

yinyang, you understand me correctly. (at least someone does)!

[Octavius]

Depends on location. The equator receives twelve hours of daylight, there's 24 hours of daylight at the North Pole, and there's 24 hours of darkness at the South Pole.

London's sunrise on June 21 is at about 4:45 a.m. and sunset is at about 9:20p.m. Sunrise at 4:45 a.m. is London's earliest, from June 11-22 but the sunset maximum is 9:20 p.m. from June 22-28 so as you can see, the longest hours of daylight and thus shortest night occurs on the night of 21st June in the Northern Hemisphere (and in England it was an ancient custom to celebrate this as St Johns Eve and still is by Slavs).

[RATTER14]

Well thats cleared that up!!!! I think!

My head hurts!!

[RATTER15]

So does mine!!

[Octavius]

Well essentially, if mandimoo is posting this Q from the South Pole, then it would be a very long night indeed for them.

[mibn2cweus]

Summer Solstice is the point, in the Earth's annual orbital journey around the Sun, where the North rotational axis of the Earth reaches it greatest inclination toward the Sun. At that instant in time those experiencing night anywhere between the Equator and the Arctic Circle will experience the shortest night of the year. However, if Summer Solstice takes place during the day the shortest night of the year at your location depends on whether or not the Sun has crossed your meridian.

If the time/date of Summer Solstice given in this table (after adjusting to your local meridian) is before Noon the shortest night ended at sunrise (unless it is now nighttime where you are). Otherwise your shortest night of the year begins at sunset. To adjust to your local meridian add/subtract 4 minutes for each degree east/west respectively. If the resulting time is just after noon note that the Sun transits about two minutes after noon at this time of year.

Example: Summer Solstice took place this year at 12:26UT on the 21st day of June. Paris, France is ~2 degrees east of the Prime Meridian. Adding 8 minutes give the time 12:34; therefore the shortest night this year in Paris began at sunset while in New York the shortest night ended at sunrise on the 21st of June.

Ooooo that hurts!