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Summer Solstice: How and Why Seasons Change  
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Tags: summer, June, solstice, seasons, changing, weather, warm, 21, day, earth

In the Northern Hemisphere, summer will officially begin at the solstice, on Thursday, June 21, 2007 at 2:06 p.m. EDT. Every year it occurs on (or very near) this date. It is the day when summer officially begins in the Northern Hemisphere and winter begins for the Southern Hemisphere. But why is it this day? And what does it mean? Here are some facts/answers about the summer solstice:

	The sun will reach the point where it's furthest north of the celestial equator.
	The sun will appear to be shining directly overhead - or atleast the highest point in the sky you will ever see.
	The sun will be directly overhead for a point on the Tropic of Cancer (latitude 23.5 degrees north) to the north of the Yucatan Peninsula, over the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
	This changing of the seasons takes place because the plane of Earth's equator is tilted 23.5 degrees to our orbit around the sun.
	During the summer solstice, we (Americans) should experience the warmest weather of the year. However, due to some atmospheric issues, it often lands just after the solstice in July. (same rings true for Winter solstice - coldest weather often in January)
	This is when we see the most daylight during the year, the sun is above the horizon for more than 15 hours. (North of the Arctic Circle the sun remains above the horizon 24-hours a day - the so-called "midnight sun" effect)
	There's a popular misconception that the Earth is now at its closest point in its orbit relative to the sun. That, however, is most definitely not the case.
	In fact, on July 6th at 8:00 p.m. EDT, the Earth will arrive at aphelion, its farthest point from the sun in its orbit, at a distance of 94.5 million miles. Back on January 3rd, Earth was at perihelion, its closest to the sun.

Lister: Pratt
Source: from Joe Rao at Space.com

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