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AMMAN — The summer solstice, marking the official start of the summer season in the Northern Hemisphere, will occur this year on Saturday, June 21, according to astronomer Emad Mujahid, a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a member of the Arab Union for Astronomy and Space Sciences.
Mujahid said that astronomical calculations indicate that at exactly 5:42am local time, the sun will be positioned directly overhead the Tropic of Cancer at approximately 23.5 degrees north of the equator, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
He added that this point marks the sun’s highest apparent position in the sky throughout the year.
On the day of the solstice, the sun will rise at 5:24am from its farthest point in the northeast, at an azimuth of 61 degrees, 44 minutes, and 31 seconds, and will set at 7:53pm at its farthest point in the northwest, at an azimuth of 298 degrees, 46 minutes, and 8 seconds, Mujahid noted.
The astronomer said that the result is 14 hours and 29 minutes of daylight, the longest day of the year, and 9 hours and 31 minutes of night, the shortest night.
He pointed out that with the end of spring, which spanned 93 days, the summer season beginning on Saturday will last 94 days.
Mujahid noted that the solstice is associated with intense heat in the Northern Hemisphere due to the near-vertical angle of solar radiation, while the Southern Hemisphere will mark the beginning of winter, experiencing its shortest day and longest night of the year.
He added that the South Pole will remain in continuous darkness during this period, as the sun does not rise there at all, while the North Pole will experience constant daylight until the autumnal equinox in September.
Following the solstice, the sun’s apparent movement will gradually shift southwards, the astronomer said.
Mujahid noted that this shift will result in a gradual decline in temperatures as the sun moves towards the equator, where it will be directly overhead again on September 23, coinciding with the autumnal equinox, when day and night are of equal length worldwide.