When do the two solstices occur

Why Do We Have Seasons? Solstices Occuring in June and December, the solstice marks either the start of winter or the start of summer.

Equinoxes Equinoxes happen directly between the solstices and mark the beginning of the Spring and Fall seasons. Doug Ray As the former Social Media Manager for The Franklin Institute, Doug was responsible for the development and strategy behind social media outreach and a variety of other digital media activities for one of the most visited museums in the United States. Benjamin Franklin and the Declaration of Independence. The Philly Solar System.

Connect With Us. Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube Linkedin. These activities, crafts, and book lists will keep students reading, exploring, and learning over the summer months. Create a List. List Name Save.

Rename this List. Rename this list. List Name Delete from selected List. Save to. Save to:. Save Create a List. Create a list. Save Back. The Summer and Winter Solstices. At the Winter Solstice, the sun travels the shortest path through the sky resulting in the day of the year with the least sunlight and therefore, the longest night.

From then onwards the days become increasingly long leading up to the Summer Solstice, or the June Solstice, and the longest day of the year.

This year the Winter Solstice will occur on Dec. During the day, the Northern Hemisphere will have just 8 hours and 46 minutes of daylight. The moniker is simply adopted to distinguish it from the meteorological winter. While the astronomical change of seasons is related to Earth's position around the sun and its axis, the meteorological seasons are marked by the first day of a particular month.

So meteorological winter proceeds astronomical winter by three weeks, occurring on Dec. Though the Winter Solstice is an annual event, Earth actually experiences two Winter Solstices each year. One in the Northern Hemisphere, the other in the Southern Hemisphere.

The axial tilt of the Earth means that as our planet journeys around the sun different areas of the planet experience varying degrees of sunlight. Without the axial tilt, the sun would remain directly about the Equator, and everywhere on the planet would receive the same amount of light the year through.

During the Winter Solstice, the North Pole is tilted at around To picture this tilt, imagine skewering the Earth on a massive pole from the Northern Hemisphere, through the center of the planet, and down to the Southern Hemisphere.

During December, the part of the pole that extends from the Northern Hemisphere is pointing away from the sun. Visualizing this pole, it quickly becomes obvious that as the Northern pole is angled away from our star, the Southern pole must be angled towards it.