Why does Spring alternate between the 20th and 21st every few years, but Summer comes on the 20th every year? For one, it complicates my calculations on when Easter comes (talk about pagan. First Sunday after full moon after equinox). Worse , it’s my brother’s birthday and I always get it wrong. Explain please you geniuses. Inquiring minds want to know.
Lewreader, all the solstices and equinoxes are equally likely to vary by 36 hours, or maybe even a bit more. Any of them can fall on the 20th, 21st or 22nd of their month; the 21st is just the most common.
The two biggest causes of the variation are that the annual cycle is thrown out of sync with the cosmos by 24 hours every four years, when we add a 29th day to February; and that the earth’s travel around the sun is faster at some points than at others because its orbit is slightly elliptical rather than being a perfect circle.
At least equinoxes and solstices don’t vary as much as Easter (4 weeks), Thanksgiving Day (6 days) or even the “Fourth of July” (usually observed on the nearest Monday or Friday nowadays).
Guys, I think Flag Day (June 14, every year) is a fun holiday and way too widely overlooked. It may never have been a bank/work holiday, but it’s an excuse to fly the flag, and I like our flag.
So it’s a shame if a Solstice arc intrudes by taking up a whole week … but story arcs have to start and end sometime.
pschearer Premium Member over 14 years ago
Maybe today is Summer Solstice Observed.
lewisbower over 14 years ago
Who you calling a Pagan, DOC?
Serious question (from Lewreader?)
Why does Spring alternate between the 20th and 21st every few years, but Summer comes on the 20th every year? For one, it complicates my calculations on when Easter comes (talk about pagan. First Sunday after full moon after equinox). Worse , it’s my brother’s birthday and I always get it wrong. Explain please you geniuses. Inquiring minds want to know.
Trebor39 over 14 years ago
Summer Solstice. June 21, 2010, Monday. The day the sun is at its furthest north, and the longest day of the year in that hemisphere.
WallyCuppaJoe over 14 years ago
A short lesson today!
avonsalis over 14 years ago
Lewreader, all the solstices and equinoxes are equally likely to vary by 36 hours, or maybe even a bit more. Any of them can fall on the 20th, 21st or 22nd of their month; the 21st is just the most common.
The two biggest causes of the variation are that the annual cycle is thrown out of sync with the cosmos by 24 hours every four years, when we add a 29th day to February; and that the earth’s travel around the sun is faster at some points than at others because its orbit is slightly elliptical rather than being a perfect circle.
At least equinoxes and solstices don’t vary as much as Easter (4 weeks), Thanksgiving Day (6 days) or even the “Fourth of July” (usually observed on the nearest Monday or Friday nowadays).
Guys, I think Flag Day (June 14, every year) is a fun holiday and way too widely overlooked. It may never have been a bank/work holiday, but it’s an excuse to fly the flag, and I like our flag.
So it’s a shame if a Solstice arc intrudes by taking up a whole week … but story arcs have to start and end sometime.