The Born Loser by Art and Chip Sansom for December 22, 2015
December 21, 2015
December 23, 2015
Transcript:
Wilberforce: My teacher says today's the longest night of the year. Brutus: Mm-hmm. Wilberforce: What's the longest day of the year? Brutus: Thursday... Brutus: That's when Grandmother Gargle is coming to spend the night.
The “longest day of the year” is the summer solstice which happens around June 21 or 22 each year. While it’s actually the same length as any other day (24 hours), the summer solstice has more hours of daylight than any other day of the year. Conversely, the winter solstice, which happens around December 21 or 22 each year, has more hours of darkness than any other day of the year. There are two days of the year that each have exactly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. Those days are the vernal equinox , which will be on March 20 in 2016 and the autumnal equinox , which will be on September 22 in 2016. All occurrences listed are for the Northern Hemisphere as in the Southern Hemisphere the seasons are reversed (i.e. summer in the north is winter in the south and spring in the north is fall in the south, etc.).