Are you enjoying these long summer days? The days have been lengthening since the winter solstice back in December. And the longest day of the year, the summer solstice, is coming up soon.
On Wednesday, June 21, at 9:58am CT the northern hemisphere will be tilted farther toward the sun than at any other time of the year. It will also be the sun’s highest arch at midday for the year. It is all due to the earth’s angle of rotation and orbit, and for people of higher latitudes it is a special time. And of course, it is the first day of winter in the southern hemisphere.
According to the North Dakota Game and Fish Department calendar, sunrise and sunset in Bismarck on June 21 will be 5:47am and 9:42pm, respectively. That is a few minutes short of 16 hours between sunrise and sunset. The time of sunrise and sunset time differ, of course, depending upon where you live. The sun rises and sets roughly one minute earlier for every 12.5 miles east of Bismarck. Conversely, it will rise and set about a minute later for every 12.5 miles west of Bismarck.
We are enjoying a lot of sunlight. After the summer solstice, the days will begin to shorten until the winter solstice on December 21, when sunrise and sunset in Bismarck will be 8:23am and 4:59pm, respectively.
Cultures have been celebrating the solstices and equinoxes for millennia. Great Britain’s Stonehenge, for example, was constructed around 2000 B.C. to celebrate the solstices and equinoxes.
One can celebrate them anywhere, of course. However, North Dakota has at least two similar structures for celebrating them:
- North of Bottineau on the western edge of Turtle Mountain is Mystical Horizons. Stone structures mark the equinoxes and solstices as well as a sundial, a structure for viewing the north star, and an information kiosk.
- South of Valley City State University, near the interstate, is a Medicine Wheel that can be used to observe the cycles of the seasons. The site also has a Meridian Calendar and a Walking Tour of the Solar System.
