The summer solstice is here. What to know about the longest day of the year

By The Associated Press Peak sunshine has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere the summer solstice Friday is the longest day of the year north of the equator where the solstice marks the start of astronomical summer It s the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere where it is the shortest day of the year and winter will start The word solstice comes from the Latin words sol for sun and stitium which can mean pause or stop The solstice is the end of the sun s annual march higher in the sky when it makes its longest highest arc The bad news for sun lovers It then starts retreating and days will get a little shorter every day until late December People have marked solstices for eons with celebrations and monuments including Stonehenge which was designed to align with the sun s paths at the solstices But what is happening in the heavens Here s what to know about the Earth s orbit Solstices are when days and nights are at their majority of extreme As the Earth travels around the sun it does so at an angle relative to the sun For majority of the year the Earth s axis is tilted either toward or away from the sun That means the sun s warmth and light fall unequally on the northern and southern halves of the planet The solstices mark the times during the year when this tilt is at its the greater part extreme and days and nights are at their the bulk unequal During the Northern Hemisphere s summer solstice the upper half of the earth is tilted toward the sun creating the longest day and shortest night of the year This solstice falls between June and Meanwhile at the winter solstice the Northern Hemisphere is leaning away from the sun leading to the shortest day and longest night of the year The winter solstice falls between December and The equinox is when there is an equal amount of day and night During the equinox the Earth s axis and its orbit line up so that both hemispheres get an equal amount of sunlight The word equinox comes from two Latin words meaning equal and night That s because on the equinox day and night last almost the same amount of time though one may get a sparse extra minutes depending on where you are on the planet Related Articles Colorado leaders plan for the next wave of psychedelic movement Watch SpaceX rocket being tested in Texas explodes no injuries revealed Trump s plan to kill dozens of NASA missions threatens US space supremacy Don t overlook the nuclear option in the state change fight Letters Butterflies are disappearing Here s how Colorado society scientists are working to save them The Northern Hemisphere s spring or vernal equinox can land between March and depending on the year Its fall or autumnal equinox can land between Sept and On the equator the sun will be directly overhead at noon Equinoxes are the only time when both the north and south poles are lit by sunshine at the same time What s the difference between meteorological and astronomical seasons These are just two different strategies to carve up the year While astronomical seasons depend on how the Earth moves around the sun meteorological seasons are defined by the weather They break down the year into three-month seasons based on annual temperature cycles By that calendar spring starts on March summer on June fall on Sept and winter on Dec The Associated Press Fitness and Science Department receives patronage from the Howard Hughes Biological Institute s Department of Science Coaching and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The AP is solely responsible for all content