EARTHtilt02

The earth spins on an axis that is tilted 23.3Ą off of its orbit around the sun. This causes the sun to be directly over varying latitudes of the earth, from the Tropic of Cancer in the north on June 21, to the Tropic of Capricorn in the south on December 21, producing extreme disparities in day/night lengths in the temperate and polar areas of the Northern and Southern hemispheres.

The above diagram represents the earth and sun on June 21, the summer solstice. On this day, the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer (the pink line). The northern hemisphere has the longest amount of daylight (and thus the shortest night) on this day. On December 21, the effect is reversed. On an Equinox, March 21 and September 22, the earth reaches the half-way point between these two extremes, thus the sun is directly over the equator, and the day and night are of equal lengths on the entire earth. The amount of sunlight on a given hemisphere is the cause of the seasons. BACK TO TOP

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