Solstices and equinoxes, which astronomically define the length of the seasons, occur because the days of the year do not have equal lengths.
Tuesday, June 21 will be the biggest day of 2022 and the first official day of summer, as at noon (around 12:13 Greek time) takes place the Summer Solstice.
From now on, in the northern hemisphere – where our country belongs – the days will gradually decrease, at first imperceptibly and from August more noticeably, while the nights will increase accordingly. On the other hand, in the southern hemisphere it will be the first day of winter (winter solstice).
The solstices and the equinoxes, which astronomically define the duration of the seasons of the year, occur because the days of the year do not have equal duration between them. The reason is that the Earth orbits the Sun and its axis of rotation is almost 23.5 degrees. Were it not for this inclination, the seasons would not exist and the day would always last 12 hours, while the Sun would follow the same “path” over the Earth every day.
However, due to the inclination of the axis of rotation, in half a year (from spring to autumn equinox) the northern hemisphere “tilts” towards the Sun, culminating in the summer solstice which occurs between the 20th and 22nd of June, while the other half year the southern hemisphere “tilts” more towards the Sun, culminating in the winter solstice.
According to the honorary director of the Eugenides Planetarium Dionysis Simopoulos, every day the Earth is in a different position from the previous one, so from each new position we see the Sun from a different angle. The ecliptic is the reflection or extension on the celestial sphere of the earth’s orbit around the Sun. If we observe the ecliptic and compare it with the celestial equator (the extension of the Earth’s equator and its imprint on the celestial dome), we will see that these two circles do not coincide, but intersect, forming an angle equal to 23 degrees and 27 first minutes, due to the inclination of the Earth’s axis with respect to the plane formed by the ecliptic. This angle is called the “ecliptic tilt” and the two points where the two circles intersect are called the “equatorial points”.
At the first point, the celestial equator intersects the ecliptic where the Sun is on March 20-21. This point is called the vernal equinox and from this day begins the ‘Spring. On the contrary, the section is made when the Sun is on September 22-23. This point is called the autumnal equator, and from that day on, Autumn begins. On both of these days, night is equal to day, that is, for 12 hours the Sun is above the horizon and for 12 hours it is below the horizon, that is, we have equal day: equinox.
From spring equator and beyond, the Sun seems to be climbing higher and higher in the northern hemisphere of the sky. The days get longer, the nights get shorter and the weather gets warmer. About three months later, on June 21, the Sun reaches the northernmost point of the ecliptic from which it will begin to descend, “turning” again to the equator. This point, on June 21, is called the summer tropical point or simply summer solstice, because the Sun turns to the equator again and from that day summer begins. Because for a few days before and after the summer solstice the Sun appears to be lingering on the ecliptic as if it were about to stop, the summer tropic is also called the summer solstice.
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