06/21/2019 – Ephemeris – Summer starts today!

Ephemeris for Friday, June 21st. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 34 minutes, setting at 9:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 5:57. The Moon, half way from full to last quarter, will rise at 12:44 tomorrow morning.

At 11:54 (15:54 UT) this morning the Sun will reach its greatest angle north of the celestial equator or 23 ½ degrees. The date and the point in the sky where the Sun is at that instant is called the summer solstice, or summer Sun standstill. It means the point at which the Sun seems poised farthest north before heading southward. This would be most noticeable if you were monitoring the height of the Sun at noon or the Sun’s rising or setting point day by day as the ancients did. Besides being the day with the longest sunlight we, in the northern hemisphere, are also receiving more intense heat from the sun than any other day of the year. Still hotter weather is in store as the northern hemisphere continues to warm up.

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

The Sun’s apparent path in the sky for the summer solstice. The cyan circle is the horizon and the Sun is plotted every 15 minutes throughout the day. Created using my LookingUp program. This is a slide from his school program on the cause of the seasons.

Earth from the DSCOVR satellite at the June solstice 2015. Of course we’re under a cloud. Credit NOAA