Happy Summer 2016—and where did the time go? The official start of summer was today at 22:34 Universal Time, or 5:34 PM CT in the U.S. That’s the moment of the northern hemisphere’s summer solstice, the instant where the sun moves as far north in the sky as it will get all year, and the longest day in most of the northern hemisphere—but oddly, not the earliest sunrise or latest sunset! It turns out this year we have an unusual confluence:
It’s the day of the year with the most sunlight, the grand dame of long summer days. Even though technically it is only the first day of summer, it may actually be the best one of all. In New York City, we will have a whopping 15.05 hours of daytime. (You can check your day length at the Farmer’s Almanac sunrise and sunset calculator, if you’re so inclined.)
The summer solstice alone is iconic enough. It’s a day with a time-honored history rife with pagan celebrations and all things Stonehenge. But this year we get the big beautiful bonus of a full moon, which hits its peak on the same day. This hasn’t happened in 70 years.
Those of you far to the north won’t see as bright a moon: You're in the land of the midnight sun and today is the day. The sun will be out all night, or just below the horizon briefly, if you are near or inside the Arctic Circle. But weather permitting, the moon should be bright and beautiful elsewhere. If you are facing south and look a little to the west of the moon, you might see a gold-white spark marking the solar system’s biggest planetary celebrity, Saturn. Follow that along the path of the ecliptic, and you’ll see Mars and then Jupiter farther to the west. Check Earthsky.org for more info and tonight’s skymap.