Hey Space Placers!
This monring - June 20 - I saw the Sun rise on the eastern horizon and saw it at its farthest point towards North that it will obtain at my latitude here in Northern Virginia. The Sun will be at its highest above the horizon at noon toady (Northern Hemisphere) and starting tomorrow, the Sun will start to head south on the horizon and lower in the sky.
All of this means that today is the first day of summer - the summer solstice - in the Northen Hemisphere, at precisely 7:09 p.m., EDT. Today will mark the most sunlight and shortest night of the year and a good portion of the U.S. is sweltering to mark the occassion.
Earth has seasons for one simple reason - our planet is tilted 23.5 degrees from being perpendicular to the plane of its orbit around the Sun. Learn more about summer solstice and the seasons here: http://scijinks.nasa.gov/solstice
Watch out for the heat and enjoy the season. Fall will be here before we know it and winter is on its way day by day!
Sky Guy in VERY HOT VA
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