The month of June kicks off thesummer with the longest day of the yearlasting 15 hours and 15 minutes: for 2024 the summer solstice falls June 20thprecisely at 10.51pm Italian time, as reported by the Italian Amateur Astronomers Union. It is, in fact, the moment in which the Sunduring his apparent motion in the celestial vaultreaches the northernmost locationand then begins its slow descent again: on this day, our star remains the maximum number of hours above the horizonwhile the Night it has duration shortest of the year.
Precisely on the occasion of the beginning of summer, the Uai is planning the ‘Welcome Summer!’ initiative. Sun Day’, an invitation to organize activities and events throughout Italy on the theme of the Sun and the seasons. For June 21st the Spezzini Amateur Astronomers Association has organized an evening of observation of the starry sky dedicated particularly to children, at the Monte Viseggi Astronomical Observatory (La Spezia), while the Tuscolana Astronomy Association is also planning a show multimedia at the planetarium and guided tours inside the ‘Livio Gratton’ Astronomical Park in Rocca di Papa, in the heart of the Castelli Romani Park. On the same day it will be possible to observe the Sun and, after sunset, the Moon thanks to the Ravenna Astrophiles Rheyta Association, which has also organized a show under the dome of the Ravenna planetarium for 24 June, to discover the summer constellations.
The Solstice delays every year by almost 6 hours compared to the previous one e it is forcibly realigned every four yearsas happened in 2024, at the leap year, introduced precisely to avoid the progressive divergence of the seasons with the calendar. Due to these variations, the summer solstice may occur on June 20th or 21st. Since this year the phenomenon occurs at 10.51pm, in 2025 the addition of the 6 hours delay will push it back to June 21st.
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