Today is the Summer Solstice! On this day, the sun reaches its highest point in the sky as it shines directly over the Tropic of Cancer.
This is the longest day of the year (in terms of daylight) in the Northern Hemisphere and the shortest in the Southern Hemisphere!
All of our seasons happen because the Earth is tilted on its axis at 23.5°.
This means as the Earth rotates around the sun, we see varying amounts of daylight! During the start of summer, in the Northern Hemisphere, we see our day with the most sunshine. During the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the earth is tilted away from the sun, bringing us our shortest day.
In Houston, we see the most sunlight today! We have over 14 hours of sunshine. Sadly, this also means our days are gradually getting shorter starting tomorrow.
Although it’s felt like summer for a while in Houston, we wanted to wish you a happy astronomical summer!