Home > Ephemeris Program, Seasons, Summer Solstice > 06/20/2023 – Ephemeris – Summer starts tomorrow!

06/20/2023 – Ephemeris – Summer starts tomorrow!

June 20, 2023

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Tuesday, June 20th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 9:31, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:57. The Moon, 2 days past new, will set at 11:58 this evening.

Tomorrow is the day of the longest daylight hours, the summer solstice. The exact time of the summer solstice will occur at 10:58 am. One really can’t tell where the Sun is against the constellations and its eastward motion along the ecliptic because when the Sun’s out the sky is blue and the stars are invisible. However the ancients could notice that the Sun changed its height in the South over the year and the summer solstice was the time that the Sun was highest in the sky. The word solstice means “Sun standstill”. All through winter and spring the Sun has been moving northward in the sky at local noon. This has slowed down and tomorrow it will stop. After that it will begin to descend in the South at local noon until the winter solstice on December 21st.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT –4 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Solstices
Comparing the sun’s path in the sky at the summer and winter solstices for the Grand Traverse Region. This is a stereographic representation of the whole sky which distorts the sky and magnifies the size of the sun’s path near the horizon.
Categories: Ephemeris Program, Seasons, Summer Solstice