NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly talks with Jackie Faherty, an astronomer on the American Museum of Pure Historical past in New York, about why summer time solstice got here so early this yr and what it signifies.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Welcome to the longest day of the yr and the arrival of summer time, not less than right here within the Northern Hemisphere – astronomical summer time, that’s. This afternoon, at 4:51 Japanese Time, the Earth’s North Pole was probably the most tilted towards the solar that will probably be all yr – summer time solstice. It is a day celebrated in lots of elements of the world, and this time round, it got here sooner than it has in additional than two centuries. Jackie Faherty joined me earlier right this moment to clarify this uncommon timing. She’s an astronomer on the American Museum of Pure Historical past in New York. Jackie Faherty, welcome.
JACKIE FAHERTY: I am glad to be right here to clarify the phenomenon.
KELLY: After we say this occurred earlier this yr than it has in a while, how a lot earlier? Are we speaking minutes, seconds, what?
FAHERTY: Yeah. So in 2020, it occurred on June 20 at 5:43 p.m. This yr, it is taking place at 4:51 Japanese Daylight Time, so we’re speaking about nearly 50 minutes right here.
KELLY: OK. And why? And I simply wish to put this in perspective. The final time it was this early, George Washington was president.
FAHERTY: Proper. However in 4 years, it will occur even sooner than this yr. And this all boils right down to the truth that we’ve got a calendar system that doesn’t line up with how lengthy it takes for the Earth to get all of it the way in which across the solar to the very same place it was within the yr prior.
KELLY: Which is why we’ve got leap years to attempt to appropriate it.
FAHERTY: That is proper. So we’ve got leap years to appropriate it, and our intercalary year system is a little bit bit tough. Most individuals know that it is each 4 years, however there’s a few exceptions such that it will get earlier and earlier till the yr 2100, when we’ll have it type of return in order that the summer time solstice all the time bounces round between June 20 and June 22.
KELLY: Is there something observable exterior as a consequence of this that we are able to look ahead to? I do not know – like, size of shadows which can be completely different?
FAHERTY: Properly, the phrase solstice refers to solar cease. And that’s as a result of right this moment is the furthest north the solar goes to set in your horizon. After which tomorrow, it will be setting additional and additional south, which implies the times are going to get shorter and shorter and shorter, despite the fact that it is the summer time, and we’re all excited. So that may be a phenomenon you may undoubtedly do. Mark precisely the place you see the solar set tonight, after which do it tomorrow and the day after and the day after. And you will discover that it is altering its place on the horizon. By summer time, the solar will begin to look a little bit bit completely different, and the times will get shorter as we transfer on.
KELLY: You doing something right this moment to have a good time the solstice?
FAHERTY: I’ll get a cocktail, and I…
KELLY: (Laughter) Could or might not be solstice associated however, you understand…
FAHERTY: I am going to put some orange juice in it, so it is received a sun-like look. I am in New York Metropolis. It is very popular right this moment, and so I’ll get pleasure from watching the sundown. I like that it is taking place at 4:51 Japanese Daylight Time. That signifies that it is proper round Completely satisfied Hour. That is an ideal time to be celebrating the primary second of summer time.
KELLY: Jackie Faherty is an astronomer on the American Museum of Pure Historical past. Thanks, and glad summer time solstice.
FAHERTY: You are welcome.
(SOUNDBITE OF JONAS BROTHERS SONG, “SUMMER BABY”)
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