[petuniasevan]

Summer's here! (Or winter, for those of you "down under"!)
The earth is actually 2 1/2 million miles farther from the sun now than it will be in January.
The seasons are a result of the earth's axial tilt of 23 1/2 degrees.
If you live north of 55 degrees north latitude, summer nights will stay light.
North of the Arctic circle, the sun won't even set for weeks to come.
At 45 degrees north latitude, I'm experiencing maybe 5 hours of total darkness. Sunrise at 5:10 AM; sunset at 8:40 PM.
On the other hand, if you're in Miami FL, your sunrise is 6:30 AM and sunset 8:15 PM.

Get on the APOD PING list!

[petuniasevan]

APOD PING!

[RightWhale]

At 64 north we are experiencing no nights of total darkness and haven't for a couple of months, nor will we for a couple more months. The sun sets, but not far, and the twilight isn't deep.

[altair]

The sun is setting on Zimbabwe. Hmmm. I wonder if that has some significance given the current political climate there.

the tilt of the Earth's axis of rotation (and not a change in the Earth-Sun distance) is mainly responsible for the changing seasons

As a point of trivia, in the northern hemisphere, the earth reaches perigee (closest to the Sun) in the winter and apogee in the summer.

[MeekOneGOP]

Beautiful. Thanks!

[boris]

Pretty, but this is not an astronomy photograph.

I am increasingly unhappy (big deal, I know) with "beauty" scenery shots masquerading as astrophotos--such as "the Moon and Venus over Geneva" a few days ago.

Can we agree that an "astronomy" photo ought to involve--in some way--a telescope? Is that too much to ask?

--Boris

[Mike Darancette]

Too bad that such a beautiful country is afflicted with such a horrendous government.