Late last night, the sun moved into the tropical sign of Cancer, marking the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, and the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.
The solstice occurs when the Earth’s 23.45 degree tilted, rotational axis dips the Northern Hemisphere toward the sun, bathing it in more sunlight than any other day of the year. At the same time, for those below the equator, June 21st marks the shortest and darkest day of the year – the winter solstice.
The specific nature of the Earth’s axis has long been considered by scientists to be one of the possible explanations as to why our planet is capable of sustaining life.
Other planets have a tilted axis too – some are hardly noticeable, like Mercury’s, while others are more drastic, like Uranus’, which causes the planet to lean on its side at almost 90 degrees. Some planets, like Mars, have an axis similar to Earth’s, but lack the gravitational pull of a moon like ours to ensure the tilt remains steady and constant over time. Without the tilt, we wouldn’t have seasons, and without the moon, the seasons wouldn’t be consistent. The consistency of the cycle is what sustains life as we know it.
Of course, just because the cycle is consistent, doesn’t mean each of us experiences it in the same way. After all, right now in the Northern Hemisphere it’s the middle of summer, while in the Southern Hemisphere, it’s the middle of winter. To me, this begs the question of why we insist on calling June 21st the “summer” solstice? Why is the cycle of the Northern Hemisphere prioritized? And, while we’re at it, we might as well also ask why the Northern Hemisphere is considered to be “North” when there is no such thing as “up” or “down” in space. Is there a greater significance to these value-laden categorizations than we realize?
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