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June Solstice: Longest and Shortest Day of the Year


Illustration image

The June Solstice. (Not to scale)

'Solstice' (Latin: 'solstitium') means 'sun-stopping', because the point where the sun appears to rise and set, stops and reverses direction after this day (ill:Not to scale)

The date varies between June 20 and June 22, depending on the year, and the local time zone.

June Solstice in Washington DC, District of Columbia, USA is on
Thursday, June 21, 2018 at 6:07 am EDT (Change city)

June Solstice in Universal Coordinated Time is on
Thursday, June 21, 2018 at 10:07 UTC

Zenith Furthest Away from the Equator



Meaning of Solstice


Although the June solstice marks the first day of astronomical summer, it's more common to use meteorological definitions of seasons, making the solstice midsummer or midwinter.

Illustration image
Stonehenge in England.
Stonehenge in England may have been constructed as a calendar.

Solstices in Culture




Midnight Sun or Polar Night?

On the June solstice, the midnight sun is visible (weather permitting) throughout the night, in all areas from just south of the Arctic Circle to the North Pole.

On the other side of the planet, south of the Antarctic Circle there's Polar Night, meaning no Sunlight at all, on the June Solstice.

Solstice Dates Vary

Even though most people consider June 21 as the date of the June Solstice, it can happen anytime between June 20 and June 22, depending on which time zone you're in. June 22 Solstices are rare - the last June 22 Solstice in UTC time took place in 1975 and there won't be another one until 2203.


A tropical year is the time it takes the Earth to orbit once around the Sun. It is around 365.242199 days long, but varies slightly from year to year because of the influence of other planets. The exact orbital and daily rotational motion of the Earth, such as the “wobble” in the Earth's axis (precession of the equinoxes), also contributes to the changing solstice dates.

Moving to Other Seasons

Equinox and solstice illustration.
Equinoxes and Solstices
Equinoxes and Solstices happen twice a year, but not always on the same date.

After the June solstice, the sun follows a lower and lower path through the sky each day in the Northern Hemisphere until it reaches the point where the length of daylight is about 12 hours and eight to nine minutes in areas that are about 30 degrees north or south of the equator.

Areas 60 degrees north or south of the equator have daylight for about 12 hours and 16 minutes. This is the September Equinox, the Autumnal Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere.

Earth does not move at a constant speed in its elliptical orbit. Therefore the seasons are not of equal length: the times taken for the sun to move from the March Equinox to the June Solstice, to the September equinox, to the December solstice, and back to the March equinox are roughly 92.8, 93.6, 89.8 and 89.0 days respectively.

The consolation in the Northern Hemisphere is that spring and summer last longer than autumn and winter.

Topics: Astronomy, Sun, Seasons, Calendar, Solstice, Earth

Astronomical Season Calculator


Winter & Summer Solstices

  1. What Is the June Solstice?
  2. June Solstice Facts
  3. What Is the December Solstice?
  4. December Solstice Facts
  5. When Is the Summer Solstice?
  6. When Is the Winter Solstice?
  7. June Solstice Celebrations
  8. December Solstice Celebrations

Equinox & Solstice Worldwide

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