The Sun, therefore, appears to rise before its centre at the horizon, giving more daylight than you might expect 12 hours 10 minutes on the equinox. The equilux is when day and night are equal and occurs a few days before the spring equinox, and a few days after the autumn equinox. These occur twice a year and are referred to as the 'summer solstice' and 'winter solstice'.
The summer solstice, which occurs around the 21 June in the Northern Hemisphere, is the day of the year with the longest period of daylight while the winter solstice, on or around the 21 December in the Northern Hemisphere, is the day with the shortest period of daylight. When it is the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, the areas north of the Arctic circle receive sunlight for a full 24 hours, while areas south of the Antarctic circle have a full day of total darkness.
This situation is reversed at the winter solstice. At the summer solstice, the Sun reaches its highest point of the year, while at the winter solstice, the noon Sun is the lowest it will be all year. During the summer solstice, the Northern Hemisphere of Earth is tilted towards the Sun, resulting in increased sunlight and warmer temperatures. This can also result in continuous daylight in far northern countries such as Iceland and Norway. The first days of summer and winter are solstice days and, according to its definition, the sun has stopped -- either gaining maximum height at noon in summer, or achieving minimum elevation at noon in winter.
In summer, we experience the greatest number of hours of daylight — up to 24 hours at the poles; in winter. Poke the toothpick through the long axis of the grape.
The lamp is the sun. Tilt your Earth model so that the toothpick is about 22 degrees away from vertical. Hold your tilted Earth about 15 cm away from the light bulb and orbit the lamp like the Earth orbits the sun — in a circle around the bulb.
Stop at the points where the toothpick is tilted towards the bulb and where it points away from the bulb. Halfway between winter and summer are the equinox points — spring and fall. Can you figure out which equinox goes where? By the way, the red planet Mars, with a similar axial tilt, has seasons too.
Not quite as pleasant, but because Mars takes about two Earth years to orbit the sun, the seasons are twice as long. Now eat the grape! Since , Derrick has been teaching us to look up—and to wonder about what we see up there. Many in India and Nepal mark the arrival of spring with the Holi festival, known also as the festival of colors or festival of love.
People celebrate the festival by covering each other in -- you guessed it -- colors! Children especially enjoy the festival, as they get to throw colored powder and water-filled balloons at others. Some say the festival comes from a story of the burning of the devil Holika. It represents the victory of good over evil, or the arrival of spring after a long, dark winter.
Others say the celebration was inspired by the story of two young lovers with different skin colors. Krishna, who has blue skin, was in love with Radha. So, he colored Radha with paint leading to the modern-day colorful festival of love. People in Valencia, Spain, have their spring celebration called Las Fallas. It is a wild, five-day street festival involving fire. The festival centers on the creation — and burning — of huge colorful statues made of wood, paper and plastic. The statues are meant to look like real people.
Often, they are modeled after Spanish politicians or stars. Valencian communities and organizations work all year to create their structures. As many as of them are then placed throughout the city, with fireworks inside.
Las Fallas begins March 15, with events like bullfights, parades, and cooking and beauty competitions. Then, at midnight on March 20, the city turns off all its streetlights and the statues are set on fire. This marks the end of the festival, and the beginning of spring. What do people do to mark the beginning of spring where you live? Let us know! Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.
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