Every year, there are two Equinoxes (around March 20 and September 23) and two Solstices (on about June 21 and December 21). Spring and autumn start with an equinox – daylight, and nighttime are of approximately equal duration all over the Earth during Equinoxes. Winter and summer start with a solstice – daylight time is the longest of the year during the summer solstice, and obviously, the night time is the longest during the winter solstice.

The video below, published by NASA Earth Observatory, is a time-lapse from geosynchronous orbit (see notes 1) that shows the four changes of the seasons, related to the position of sunlight on the planet.

The four changes of the seasons, related to the position of sunlight on the planet, are captured in this view from Earth orbit.

Equinoxes

Equinoxes - Spring Equinox (March 20, 2011)
 Spring Equinox from space. This NASA image is acquired on March 20, 2011.

During two Equinoxes, around March 20 and September 23, the terminator (the edge between the shadows of nightfall and the sunlight of dusk and dawn) is a straight north-south line, and the Sun is said to sit directly above the equator. As a result, the northern and southern hemispheres are equally illuminated and daylight and nighttime are of approximately equal duration all over the planet. The word comes from Latin equi or “equal” and nox meaning “night”.

In other words, the equinoxes are the only times when the sub-solar point is on the equator. The sub-solar point on a planet is where its sun is perceived to be directly overhead). To learn more about the local noon and the subsolar point, see the article titled “How Earth Moves“.

Solstices

A solstice is an event occurring when the Sun appears to reach its most northerly or southerly excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, on about June 21 (summer solstice) and December 21 (winter solstice). The word solstice is derived from the Latin sol (“sun”) and sistere (“to stand still”), because at the solstices, the Sun’s declination “stands still”; that is, the seasonal movement of the Sun’s daily path (as seen from Earth) stops at a northern or southern limit before reversing direction.

On the “summer solstice” day (it actually occurs at the beginning of the winter in the southern hemisphere, so “June solstice is a more accurate term”) the Sun appears to reach its highest point in the sky at the northern hemisphere, at latitudes outside the tropics. Also, the longest day time and shortest night time of the year occur. Within the tropics, the Sun appears directly overhead at solar noon days to 3 months before and after the summer solstice.

Summer Solstice (June 21, 2011)
 Summer Solstice from space. This NASA image is acquired on June 21, 2011.

Contrarily, on the “winter solstice” day (which marks the beginning of the summer in the southern hemisphere – December solstice is a more accurate term) the Sun appears to reach its lowest point in the sky in the northern hemisphere. And it’s the longest night for any place other than the Equator. The Earth is positioned in its orbit so that the sun stays below the north pole horizon. After the winter solstice, the days get longer, and the nights shorter in the northern hemisphere (and the opposite is true for the southern hemisphere).

Winter Solstice (December 21, 2010)
 Winter Solstice from the space. This NASA image is acquired on December 21, 2010.

How Seasons Occur

One of the most frequently misunderstood concepts in science is the reason for Earth’s seasons. The seasons are NOT caused by the change in the distance of the Earth to the Sun. Most people think the Earth’s orbit is (and in general, planets‘ orbits are) strongly elliptical (another misconception that is the source of this one). No, the Earth’s orbit is (and in general, planets‘ orbits are) very close to a circle. This misconception is due to orbits being shown from an oblique view in most textbooks (and also in the image below) to save space. Long story short, the seasons are due to the axial tilt of the Earth.

Earth's tilt creates seasons
During winter in the northern hemisphere, the Earth is tilted so that the Southern Hemisphere receives more sunlight. During summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the Northern Hemisphere gets more sunlight.
How seasons occur
 The seasons: it’s funny that some people (including some of my friends) think that the summer means the Earth is closer to the Sun, and the winter means vice versa. This is absolutely wrong. If it were true, how we could explain the fact that when it’s winter in the northern hemisphere, it’s summer in the southern hemisphere? No, the seasons exist because Earth’s axis is today tilted 23.5 degrees from the plane of its orbit around the sun. But this tilt changes. During a cycle that averages about 40,000 years, the tilt of the axis varies between 22.1 and 24.5 degrees. Because this tilt changes, the seasons as we know them can become exaggerated. More tilt means more severe seasons -warmer summers and colder winters; less tilt means less severe seasons – cooler summers and milder winters.
For half of the Earth tilted towards the Sun, one hemisphere receives more solar radiation from the Sun than the other. In the image above, it’s summer in the southern hemisphere, while it’s winter in the northern hemisphere.

Notes

1. Geostationary orbit

A geostationary orbit, geostationary Earth orbit, or geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO) is a circular orbit 35,786 kilometers (22,236 mi) above the Earth’s equator and following the direction of the Earth’s rotation. An object in such an orbit has an orbital period equal to the Earth’s rotational period (one sidereal day) and thus appears motionless, at a fixed position in the sky, to ground observers.

Geostationary, Molniya, Tundra, Polar & Sun Synchronous Orbits Explained

Sources

M. Özgür Nevres

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.