Muscat: The Omani Astronomical Society confirmed that the summer solstice phenomenon this year will occur tomorrow with the sun’s rays perpendicular to the Tropic of Cancer, and that day will be the first day of summer astronomically in the northern hemisphere, and the length of summer will be approximately 93 days, 15 hours and 52 minutes.
Ibrahim bin Muhammad Al Mahrouqi, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Omani Astronomical Society, said in a statement to the Oman News Agency: “Astronomical calculations indicate that this year’s summer solstice phenomenon will occur at 12:50 after midnight, Sultanate of Oman time. The sun will rise at 5:21 am and set at 06:57 PM, covering most of the regions of the Northern Hemisphere, which includes Europe, Asia, North America, and the Arctic."
He added that the daylight in the city of Muscat will last 13 hours, 35 minutes and 51 seconds, making it the longest day of the year at night and the shortest during the day in most regions of its southern hemisphere, which includes Australia, half of Africa, South America and Antarctica, noting that the summer solstice is the first day of summer for residents of the northern half.
For the Earth, it is also the first day of winter or the so-called winter solstice for residents of the southern hemisphere. Al-Mahrouqi explained that the earth has two movements: The first: its movement around its axis from west to east approximately once every 24 hours, resulting in the alternation of day and night.
The second is its movement in its orbit around the sun approximately once every 365.25 days, resulting in the succession of the four seasons. The reason for the occurrence of the solstices and equinoxes is due to the tilt of the Earth’s axis of rotation around the sun at 23.5 degrees, and this also explains the long days in summer and short days in winter.
He pointed out that these solstices and equinoxes are not necessarily related to temperatures, because astronomically, the summer solstice means that the sun is perpendicular to the Tropic of Cancer, and thus the temperature is high, but during the season there are heat waves, so these are weather-specific changes that have no relation to astronomical seasons.
At the conclusion of his speech, he explained that this astronomical event is accompanied by many phenomena that we witness on Earth, including the beginning of the Dhofar autumn season astronomically and the absence of noon shadow in the areas located on the Tropic of Cancer (Al-Amerat, Fanja, Wadi Al-Maawal, Al-Rustaq, Ibri).
On this day, the sun rises from the farthest point to the northeast and sets at the furthest point to the northwest, and the number of night hours shortens, and the time of daylight hours lengthens, then the daylight hours begin to decrease until the hours of night and day are equal, which is called the autumnal equinox on September 22nd at 04:43 p.m.
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