Summer Solstice 2024: After 228 years, summer solstice is coming earlier than usual due to this simple reason

Summer Solstice 2024: The summer solstice will occur on June 20, 2024, at 8:50 pm UTC. The summer solstice is occurring so early after 228 years. The last time this happened was back in 1796.

Earth is tilted at an axis of 23.5 degrees, which contributes to the phenomenon of summer solstice. Usually, the summer solstice occurs on June 21 every year. It is a day when the Earth's north pole is closest to the sun. This results in longer days and shorter nights in the northern hemisphere.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Meanwhile, the opposite phenomenon is observed in the southern hemisphere at this point, the winter solstice.

Why is the summer solstice happening early this year? (Summer Solstice 2024)

Earth's journey around the sun does not take 356 days precisely. It takes 365.242189 days to complete one revolution around the sun. Thus, according to the Gregorian calendar, a leap year occurs every four years with 366 days in total and an extra day added in February.

Hence, according to calculations every year the expected dates for solstice and equinox are 18 hours, 11 minutes, and 14.87 seconds earlier than the preceding year.

Another factor contributing to the summer solstice occurring early this year is how the Gregorian calendar accounts for leap years. Every year that is divisible by four is considered a leap year.

Watch |Australia's Albanese in China, hold talks on trade, rights with Premier Li Qiang

However, a special rule applies in cases of years that end with a "00". For example, 1800, 1900, and 2000 are considered leap years only when divisible by 400.

Every 400 years three leap years are dropped which helps correct the actual speed of the planet. This leads to us keeping time “too fast” by around 45 minutes.

Therefore, every four years that don't begin with a leap year, 365.25 days are counted and not 365.242189 days per year. As a result, the summer solstice will occur 45 minutes earlier than 2020 this year.

It also indicates that this tendency will persist until 2096, and the solstice will happen on June 20 at 06:32 am that year. The cycle will then reset, with the solstice falling later in the year.

(With inputs from agencies)