SPECTACULAR ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA OF THE SUMMER

 

The June solstice is the astronomical phenomenon that marks the arrival of summer in the northern hemisphere and the beginning of winter in the southern hemisphere. This year, it will occur on Sunday, 20 June at 22:32.

This will be the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, with 13 hours and 25 minutes of sunlight, a pattern that will diminish as the year progresses, until it reaches its antithesis, the shortest day on the winter solstice.

Summer will also mark the farewell of the biggest and brightest moons of the year.

The last supermoon of 2021 will take place on 24 June.

The Perseids are one of the most eagerly awaited astronomical phenomena of every summer in the northern hemisphere. This shower of stars originates from comet Swift-Tuttle, a distant visitor to Earth that completes an orbit around the Sun every 133 years.

When the debris of dust, ice and cosmic rocks that it left behind during its last passage hurtles towards our planet, it causes meteors to streak across the celestial vault in a matter of tenths of a second.

Also known as the Tears of St. Lawrence, the Perseids are the third most intense meteor shower of the year.

 

The gas giant of the Solar System will reach its closest point to Earth and the best time to observe it on 19 August, just two weeks after Saturn's opposition.

Jupiter will appear brighter than normal once night falls in the east.