Tuesday June 21, 2022 will take place on summer solsticethe astronomical event that in the northern hemisphere (half of the globe located north of the equator) marks the longest day of the yearbut also the beginning of the astronomical summer season, not to be confused with the meteorological summer, which began on 1 June instead.
Learn more:
Summer solstice 2022, because it’s June 21st (and not June 20th)
What is the summer solstice
The word comes from the Latin solsticeunion of sol“Sun” and stop which means “to stop”. The summer solstice defines the moment when the Sun reaches the point of maximum declination in its apparent motion along the ecliptic, that is, the path that our star seems to travel every year with respect to the celestial sphere. The result is that at this date the northern hemisphere is flooded with light and thus occurs the longest day of the year. On the contrary, during the winter solstice (next December 21st) the declination reaches its minimum and you have the shortest day of all.
Summer solstice 2022: correct time
As explained above, the solstice by definition describes a precise instant of the day; on 21 June 2022 it will take place at 11:13 Italian time. In our country, the hours of daylight will increase as you move north. Natural lighting will last for example 15 hours and 7 minutes a Napoli; 15 hours and 16 minutes a Roma; 15 hours and 28 minutes a Firenze; 15 hours and 33 minutes a Bologna; 15 hours and 42 minutes a Milano.
Data mobile
The summer solstice does not always occur on the same day: most of the time it falls on June 21st, but on some occasions it can be earlier than June 20th. This depends on the fact that there is not exact coincidence between our calendar, which counts 365 days and the time actually taken by the Earth to complete a complete circle around the Sun (solar year), which lasts about 6 more hours. This discrepancy determines the displacement of equinoxes and solstices and is the reason why there is a leap year, which “fixes” things every four years avoiding the progressive shift of the seasons.