{"id":37496,"date":"2024-09-22T13:15:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-22T13:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=37496"},"modified":"2024-09-28T11:54:18","modified_gmt":"2024-09-28T11:54:18","slug":"why-cant-it-always-be-summer-its-all-about-the-earths-tilt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/why-cant-it-always-be-summer-its-all-about-the-earths-tilt\/","title":{"rendered":"Why can\u2019t it always be summer? It\u2019s all about the Earth\u2019s tilt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Stephanie Spera<\/a>, University of Richmond<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why can\u2019t it always be summer? \u2013 Amanda, age 5, Chile<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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With its long days just itching to be spent by water doing nothing, summer really can be an enchanting season. As Jenny Han wrote in the young adult novel \u201cThe Summer I Turned Pretty<\/a>\u201d: \u201cEverything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But all good things must come to an end, and summer cannot last forever. There\u2019s both a simple reason and a more complicated one. The simple reason is that it can\u2019t always be summer because the Earth is tilted. The more complicated answer requires some geometry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m a professor of geography and the environment<\/a> who has studied seasonal changes on the landscape. Here\u2019s what seasons have to do with our planet\u2019s position as it moves through the solar system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Closeness to the Sun doesn\u2019t explain seasons<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First, you need to know that the Earth is a sphere \u2013 technically, an oblate<\/a> spheroid<\/a>. That means Earth has a round shape a little wider than it is tall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every year, Earth travels in its orbit to make one revolution around the Sun. The Earth\u2019s orbit is an ellipse<\/a>, which is more like an oval than a circle. So there are times when Earth is closer to the Sun and times when it\u2019s farther away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of people assume this distance is why we have seasons. But these people would be wrong. In the United States, the Earth is 3 million miles closer to the Sun during winter than in the summer<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An
Our distance from the Sun is not why we have seasons. NASA<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Spinning like a top<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Now picture an imaginary line across Earth, right in the middle, at 0\u00b0 latitude<\/a>. This line is called the equator<\/a>. If you drew it on a globe, the equator would pass through countries including Brazil, Kenya, Indonesia and Ecuador.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything north of the equator, including the United States, is considered the Northern Hemisphere<\/a>, and everything south of the equator is the Southern Hemisphere<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now think of the Earth\u2019s axis<\/a> as another imaginary line that runs vertically through the middle of the Earth, going from the North Pole<\/a> to the South Pole<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it orbits, or revolves, around the Sun, the Earth also rotates. That means it spins on its axis, like a top. The Earth takes one full year to revolve around the Sun and takes 24 hours, or one day, to do one full rotation on its axis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This axis is why we have day and night; during the day, we\u2019re facing the Sun, and at night, we\u2019re facing away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Earth\u2019s axis does not go directly up and down. Instead, its axis is always tilted at 23.5 degrees<\/a> in the exact same direction, toward the North Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Earth\u2019s axis is tilted due to a giant object \u2013 perhaps an ancient planet<\/a> \u2013 smashing into it billions of years ago. And it\u2019s this tilt that causes seasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Because of the tilt of the Earth, we are able to experience the seasons. Stephanie Spera<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s all about the tilt<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So that means in June, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun. That tilt means more sunlight, more solar energy, longer days<\/a> \u2013 all the things that make summer, well, summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the Southern Hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun. So countries such as Australia, Chile and Argentina are experiencing winter then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To say it another way: As the Earth moves around the Sun throughout the year, the parts of the Earth getting the most sunlight are always changing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast-forward to December, and Earth is on the exact opposite side of its orbit as where it was in June. It\u2019s the Southern Hemisphere\u2019s turn to be tilted toward the Sun, which means its summer happens in December, January and February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Earth were not tilted at all, there would be no seasons. If it were tilted more than it is, there would be even more extreme seasons<\/a> and drastic swings in temperature. Summers would be hotter and winters would be colder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
The Earth\u2019s axis is always tilted at 23.5 degrees. Stephanie Spera<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Defining summer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Talk to a meteorologist, climate scientist or author Jenny Han, and they\u2019ll tell you that for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, summer is June, July and August, the warmest months of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there\u2019s another way to define summer. Talk to astronomers, and they\u2019ll tell you the first day of summer is the summer solstice<\/a> \u2013 the day of the year with the longest amount of daylight and shortest amount of darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The summer solstice occurs every year sometime between June 20 and June 22. And every day after, until the winter solstice<\/a> in December, the Northern Hemisphere receives a little less daylight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Summer officially ends on the autumnal equinox<\/a>, the fall day when everywhere on Earth has an equal amount of daylight and night. The autumnal equinox happens every year on either September 22 or 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But whether you view summer like Jenny Han or like an astronomer, one thing is certain: Either way, summer must come to an end. But the season and the magic it brings with it will be back before you know it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you\u2019d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com<\/a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And since curiosity has no age limit \u2013 adults, let us know what you\u2019re wondering, too. We won\u2019t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephanie Spera<\/a>, Assistant Professor of Geography and the Environment, University of Richmond<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stephanie Spera, University of Richmond Why can\u2019t it always be summer? \u2013 Amanda, age 5, Chile With its long days just itching to be spent by water doing nothing, summer really can be an enchanting season. As Jenny Han wrote in the young adult novel \u201cThe Summer I Turned Pretty\u201d: \u201cEverything good, everything magical happens […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":37497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[292,1862,3410],"tags":[6210,12378,885,891,886,860,15593,424,4687],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37496"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37496"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37603,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37496\/revisions\/37603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}