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Summer 2023 officially begins at 8:57 a.m. MDT Wednesday, June 21 – the summer solstice.
At that moment, the sun reaches its highest point in the sky on the longest day of the year.
That will be the exact moment in the northern hemisphere “when the axial tilt of the Earth is at its most inclined toward the sun during its 365-day orbit — at an angle of 23° 26',” according to www.space.com.
“The word solstice comes from the Latin solstitium, from sol (sun) and stitium (to stop), (as) the sun appears to stop at this time (and again at the winter solstice),” according to www.almanac.com.
The summer solstice occurs when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer, the northern-most circle of latitude on Earth.
Summer will end with the autumnal equinox, 12:49 a.m. MDT Saturday, Sept. 23; which means summer 2023 will last 95 days.
And, just in case you were wondering, Daylight Saving Time 2023 ends Sunday, Nov. 5.
Full moons
Following the June 3 Full Strawberry Moon is the Full Buck Moon, at 5:39 a.m. MDT Monday, July 3.
There are two full moons in August: the Full Sturgeon Moon at 12:31 p.m. MDT Tuesday, Aug. 1, and a Blue Moon (the second full moon in a calendar month) at 7:35 p.m. MDT Thursday, Aug. 31. This one is a super blue moon, meaning it will appear a little larger and brighter than usual. It is the first Blue Moon since August 2021.
A super moon (technical name is perigee syzygy) occurs when the moon’s orbit brings it closest to Earth. (Perigee is the point at which the moon is nearest Earth; syzygy is the alignment of the Earth, moon and sun.)
Meteor shower
There will be a Perseid meteor shower July 14-Sept. 1, that likely will peak around Monday, Aug. 13.
The best way to view the meteor shower is to find a dark location and give your eyes about 15 minutes to adjust to the darkness. 2023 is expected to be a good year for viewing because of the moon’s low illumination during the meteor shower’s peak.
The Perseids “are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle,” according to Wikipedia. They are called the Perseids “because the point at which they appear to hail (called the radiant) lies in the constellation Perseus.” The Perseids were first recorded in 36 AD.
Visit www.space.com/32868-perseid-meteor-shower-guide.html and www.amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar. There are many other similar websites you can visit.
