In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice is the time when the sun is directly above the Tropic of Cancer. This is the farthest north the sun moves in the sky, which is why Northern Hemisphere days are the year's longest around the time of the solstice. Of course the Northern Hemisphere's summer solstice is the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.

Each year, the timing of the solstice depends on when the Sun reaches its farthest point north of the equator. This occurs annually on June 20 or June 21 in North America, depending on your time zone. Here in Colorado it will be at 7:09 pm tonight.

The WORLDTIME site developed and made available by HAB Software, in Hamburg, Germany, includes a globe that slows where it's currently light, dark or twilight. You can click on the globe to center it on different locations. It's a great way to see the effects of the season on the length of the day on various parts of the Earth.

What, you may ask, are we doing to celebrate the longest day of the year? I haven't decided yet. Maybe make popcorn.

Meanwhile, this picture is supposedly from Kuwait, when the shark tank broke. What with Photoshop any more, it could be faked, but it's an interesting thought.