• Question: It is the longest day of the year today (June 21). How?

    Asked by anawesomepersonlol to Matt, Claire on 25 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Matthew Pankhurst

      Matthew Pankhurst answered on 25 Jun 2013:


      It’s all to do with how we travel through space and how the earth rocks back and forwards. Here’s a technical explanation
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solstice#Heliocentric_view_of_the_seasons
      Bascially, the earth is tilting backwards and forwards slowly. When it is tilted “down”, the northern part of the earth gets moe sunlight than the south, and it is summer in the north and winter in the south. When it is tilted “up”, it is the opposite. Because the tilt happens gradually, each day gets longer and longer, and when we are heading into winter, shorter and shorter. There is always one day which has a bit more light than the rest, and one which has a bit less than all the rest, each year.

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