Latest news with #daylight


BBC News
2 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Lower buildings requested for Beehive Centre plans in Cambridge
A city council said it would reverse its opposition to plans to redevelop a shopping centre if there was a condition limiting the loss of daylight to nearby homes.A five-day inquiry into plans to knock down the Beehive Centre in Cambridge in order to build new offices, laboratories and community spaces began on City Council recommended the plans for refusal in February, on the basis the buildings would block light in nearby homes, but this decision was later called in by Angela Rayner, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local means a decision on the application will be made at a national government level, following the inquiry. The city council objected to the maximum possible heights for the new office blocks and laboratories, which it said would block daylight to nearby homes at an unacceptable developer, Railpen, said it did not think the maximum heights it had proposed would have an unacceptable impact on light levels reaching people's put forward details of an illustrative scheme, which showed lower heights for the proposed some cases, the difference in height between the buildings in each proposal was several city council said it would support a condition that would limit the impact of the development to this illustrative scheme, saying that otherwise it would continue to oppose the redevelopment. The opening day of the inquiry saw the city council, councillors and members of the public raise a series of concerns about the Beehive Centre currently has 17 retail units including shops, food outlets and a gym.A note published by the council, setting out its new position, said: "The parties agree that the daylight, sunlight and overshadowing (DSO) effects of the illustrative scheme, would be materially lesser than a scheme built out to the maximum parameters shown on the parameter plans."The residual DSO harm from the illustrative scheme would be acceptable in planning terms."It will be for the Planning Inspectorate and Rayner to decide whether this condition is imposed if approval is given to the redevelopment. Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Rare daytime fireball bright enough to be seen from orbit may have punched a hole in a house in Georgia
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A large meteor that triggered a spectacular daytime fireball over the southeastern U.S. may have survived its dramatic passage through Earth's atmosphere to punch through the roof of a Georgia home. The fireball was spotted over the southeastern U.S. at 12:25 EDT on Friday, (1625 GMT), visibly flaring as the extreme heat of atmospheric friction overwhelmed the ancient chunk of solar system debris. Its descent was bright enough to be seen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAAs) GOES-19 Earth observation satellite, using an instrument designed to map flashes of lightning from orbit. "Daylight fireballs are rare in that it takes a large object (larger than a beachball compared to your normal pea-sized meteor) to be bright enough to be seen during the day," said Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Association in an email to "We probably only average one per month worldwide, so perhaps one out of every 3,000 reports occurs during the day." The meteor was first spotted 48 miles (77 kilometers) above the town of Oxford, Georgia travelling at around 30,000 mph (48,000 km/h), according to NASA Meteoroid Environment Office lead Bill Cooke, via CBS News. Lunsford noted that the fireball may have been associated with the daylight beta Taurid shower, which peaks in late June as Earth passes through the trail of cosmic debris shed by the ancient solar system comet 2P/Encke. Footage of the event led many to speculate that fragments of the meteor may have survived its bruising passage through Earth's atmosphere. The hours that followed saw photos circulate online purporting to show the damage that a fragment of the meteorite caused when it smashed through the roof of a home in Henry County, Georgia. "Being much larger than your average meteor also means that it has a better chance of producing fragments on the ground," explained Lunsford "We look for reports of sound such as thunder or sonic booms to have confidence that fragments of the original fireball survived down to the lower atmosphere and perhaps all the way to the ground. Therefore the photograph of the hole in the roof is probably associated with this fireball." If verified, the Georgia meteorite certainly wouldn't represent the first time that a daylight beta Daylight Taurid left a mark on our planet. Lunsford noted that a particularly large meteor that some scientists believe to be associated with the annual shower detonated in a powerful airburst 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) over Russian Siberia in June 1908. The force of the explosion sparked massive forest fires and flattened roughly 80 million trees in what has since become known as the 'Tunguska Event'. Editor's Note: If you capture a photo or video footage of a meteor and want to share it with readers, then please send it, along with your name, comments, and details of your experience to spacephotos@
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Yahoo
Summer solstice 2025 brings changing seasons to Earth on June 20
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Summer will officially arrive on Friday in what is known as the Summer Solstice. At 10:42 p.m. EDT on June 20 (0242 GMT on June 21), the sun will reach that point where it is farthest north of the celestial equator. To be more precise, when the solstice occurs the sun will appear to be shining directly overhead for a point on the Tropic of Cancer (latitude 23.5 degrees north) in the western Pacific Ocean, roughly 1,400 statute miles (890 km) to the south of Tokyo, Japan. From mid-northern latitudes, we can never see the sun directly overhead, but (as an example) as seen from Philadelphia at 1:02 p.m. EDT on the day of the summer solstice, the sun will attain its highest point in the sky for this entire year, standing 73 degrees above the southern horizon. To gauge how high that is, your clenched fist held at arm's length measures roughly 10 degrees, so from "The City of Brotherly Love," the sun will appear to climb more than "seven fists" above the southern horizon. And since the sun will appear to describe such a high arc across the sky, the duration of daylight will be at its most extreme, lasting exactly 15 hours. But this doesn't mean that we can stargaze for the 9 hours remaining because we also need to take twilight into consideration. Around the time of the June solstice at latitude 40 degrees north, morning and evening twilight each last just over 2 hours, so the sky is fully dark for only 5 hours. Farther north, twilight lasts even longer. At 45 degrees it lingers for 2.5 hours and at 50 degrees twilight persists through the entire night; the sky never gets completely dark. In contrast, heading south, the duration of twilight is shorter. At latitude 30 degrees it lasts 96 minutes while at the latitude of San Juan it only lingers for 80 minutes. Which is why travelers from the northern U.S. who visit the Caribbean at this time of year are so surprised at how quickly it gets dark after sunset compared to back home. Incidentally, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset do not coincide with the summer solstice. The former occurred on June 14, while the latter does not come until June 27. Most people are probably under the impression that the Earth is closest to the sun in its orbit at this time of year, but actually, it is just the opposite. In fact, on July 3, at 19:55 Universal Time or 3:55 p.m. Eastern daylight time, we'll be at that point in our orbit farthest from the sun (called aphelion); a distance of 94,502,939 miles (152,087,738 km). Conversely, it was back on Jan. 4 that Earth was at perihelion, its closest point to the sun. The difference in distance between these two extremes measures 3,096,946 miles (4,984,051 km) or 3.277 percent, which makes a difference in radiant heat received by the Earth of nearly 7 percent. Thus, for the Northern Hemisphere the difference tends to warm our winters and cool our summers. However, in reality, the preponderance of large landmasses in the Northern Hemisphere works the other way and overall tends to make our winters colder and summers hotter than those of the Southern Hemisphere. After the sun arrives at its solstice point, it will begin to migrate back toward the south and the amount of daylight in the Northern Hemisphere will begin to decrease. Consider this: after Friday, the length of daylight will not begin to increase again until three days before Christmas. But actually, if you think about it, the sun has been taking a high arc across the sky and the length of daylight has been rather substantial since about the middle of May. And the lowering of the sun's path in the sky and the diminishing of the daylight hours in the coming days and weeks will, at least initially, be rather subtle. Aug. 1 is marked on some Christian calendars as Lammas Day, whose name is derived from the Old English "loaf-mass," because it was once observed as a harvest festival and was traditionally considered to be the middle of the summer season. In actuality, however, summer's midpoint — that moment that comes exactly between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox in 2024 — will not occur until Aug. 6 at 6:30 p.m. EDT. On that day, again, as seen from Philly, the sun will set at 8:08 p.m. with the loss of daylight since June 20 amounting to just 56 minutes. But it is in the second half of summer that the effects of the southward shift of the sun's direct rays start becoming much more noticeable. In fact, when autumn officially arrives on Sept. 22, the sun for Philadelphians will be setting a few minutes before seven in the evening (6:57 p.m.), while the length of daylight will have been reduced by nearly two hours (1 hour 55 minutes to be precise) since Aug. 6. RELATED STORIES: — The summer solstice: What is it and when does it occur? — Midnight sun: What it is and how to see it — 365 days of satellite images show Earth's seasons changing from space (video) When he occasionally played left field during his Hall of Fame career with the Yankees, Yogi Berra would say that he didn't mind the outfield, except that during August and September, as the shadows across the ballfield progressively lengthened, it made it increasingly difficult for him to see a baseball hit in his direction. Yogi might not have been able to explain the science of why the altitude of the sun lowered so perceptibly during the latter half of the summer, but — as only Yogi could do — he was able to sum it all up in a simple Yogism: "It's getting late early out there." Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, Sky and Telescope and other publications.


Washington Post
19-06-2025
- Climate
- Washington Post
What to know about the summer solstice, the longest, brightest day of the year
Summer officially begins Friday, June 20, at 10:41 p.m. Eastern time. That's the precise moment of the summer solstice — making for the longest, brightest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Temperatures are toasty and the humidity is sweltering across much of the Lower 48. There's no denying it's summer. On Friday, Washington, D.C., will enjoy 14 hours and 54 minutes of daylight. Dallas will get 14 hours and 19 minutes, and Seattle will get just shy of 16 hours. Remember — the days will be longest farther north, with the fewest daylight hours in the Southern Hemisphere. There's more annual variation in day length toward the poles, and the most consistency at the equator. The summer solstice has to do with Earth's tilt on its axis. Because of our 23.5-degree tilt, the amount — and intensity — of sunlight any given area receives varies throughout the year. For half the year, the sun's most direct rays shine on the Northern Hemisphere; the other half of the year, the Southern Hemisphere. Since our tilt is 23.5 degrees, that means the sun's direct rays fall between 23.5 degrees north and 23.5 degrees south latitude at all times throughout the year. Those lines represent the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. (Technically, the actual latitudes are 23.4394 degrees north and south.) On the June solstice, the sun shines directly on the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere. That means that, poleward of that line, everyone in the Northern Hemisphere is experiencing their longest, brightest day. And if you stand on that line, you'll have no shadow at noon — the sun will be directly over you. After Friday, the sun's most direct rays begin retreating southward again. On the autumnal (fall) equinox, or Monday, Sept. 22, those most intense rays will cross into the Southern Hemisphere. Our days will get shorter and darker until the winter solstice on Dec. 21. Even as the days get shorter, that doesn't mean it will start getting cooler. There's something called seasonal lag that prevents that from happening. The atmosphere has a certain amount of thermal inertia, or resistance to changing temperature. Light hits the ground and is converted to heat, which is dispersed through the atmosphere. The diffusion of that heat takes a while. The lag — or time between greatest amount of sunlight and warmest temperatures — is about a month. That's why July tends to be the hottest month for North America, Europe and Asia. Technically speaking, every place on Earth gets about the same duration of sunlight every year. It would be exactly the same if we were a perfect sphere, but between mountains and Earth's equator, which bulges outward 27 miles, it's a bit imperfect. What varies is the intensity of the daylight. Take the north pole, for example. Even on the summer solstice, the sun is very low in the sky. The sunlight comes at a steep angle and is weak — which is why it's so cold at the poles. Day length changes the most at the poles and changes the least at the equator. At the equator, every day is a little more than 12 hours long. In the Arctic and Antarctic circles, there's at least one day per year with 24 hours of sunlight, and another with 24 hours of darkness. At the mid-latitudes, people experience a couple of hours of variation, but it's not that extreme. In D.C., for instance, the summer solstice has 14 hours and 53 minutes of sunshine. The winter solstice has just 9 hours and 26 minutes.

ABC News
19-06-2025
- Climate
- ABC News
Winter solstice is on Saturday but it won't bring Australia's coldest weather
This Saturday is the 2025 winter solstice, Australia's shortest day of the year. How many hours of daylight you experience depends entirely on latitude — Hobart will see only 9 hours and 1 minute while Darwin will see 11 hours and 24 minutes. For remaining capitals, running south to north: The variation in the length of day through the year, and indeed the very existence of seasons, is due to the Earth's tilt of 23.5 degrees. As we orbit the Sun, this tilt leads to changes in the length of day and the angle of the Sun viewed from the ground — it's higher in summer and lower in winter. Saturday, the winter solstice, marks the day when the Sun is furthest north, tracking directly over the Tropic of Cancer. The exact time of this year's solstice is 12:42pm for eastern states and just after midday for the NT and SA, meaning the longest night of the year will follow immediately after. For WA, a 10:42am solstice will result in Friday night being the longest of the year. From this position over the Northern Hemisphere, Australia is not only in Earth's shadow for the longest period, but critically for temperatures, it's also when the Sun's noon position is lowest in the sky. From a simple energy perspective, the winter solstice therefore has the least amount of incoming heat directly from sunlight. However, for nearly the whole of Australia, the coldest weather does not arrive when the days are shortest. For the vast majority of the country, the coldest month is July, and for some locations, the coldest day on average is not until early August, even though days are longer and the Sun's angle is higher. The cause of the temporal anomaly between the shortest day and coldest temperatures is due to the different heat capacities of substances. Put simply, land regions warm up and cool down much faster than oceans. This property is demonstrated daily as air temperatures fluctuate sharply between day and night, while water temperatures remain steady regardless of the hour. Water, therefore, is said to have a greater heat capacity than land, which leads to an annual minimum temperature for waters surrounding Australia occurring mostly between July and September — well after the Southern Hemisphere's shortest day in June. The warmer oceans earlier in winter act as one giant heater — they transfer energy into the atmosphere and delay the coldest weather until well after incoming heat from the sun reaches a minimum on June 21. This delay is called seasonal lag, and it also occurs after the summer solstice in December, with the hottest weather in southern Australia not arriving until January. The coldest weather in any given year is determined by the exact timing of weather systems; however, on average, due to seasonal lag, it occurs a few weeks after the winter solstice. The delay is greatest in regions where the climate is influenced by neighbouring oceans — so coastal areas of southern Australia have a longer temperature lag than inland regions. For maximum temperatures, the absolute peak lag is about five weeks in south-west Tasmania and on the southern WA coast near Albany. For Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide the coldest day of the year — on average — lands in the second or third week of July. Unsurprisingly, parts of the central interior, well away from oceans, have a lag of only a few days. The seasonal changes in daytime temperatures across northern Australia are more intricate due to the contrast in cloud cover through the year — there are even small regions that have their average lowest winter maximums a few days before the winter solstice. The national variability in minimum temperatures is far more uniform, with well over 90 per cent of Australia, including the northern tropics, having its coldest night between July 11 and 21. Seasonal lag is even greater in some Northern Hemisphere coastal regions, depending on the time of year. San Francisco's warmest month of the year is not until September, a full three months after the summer solstice, during which time the length of day has already shortened by more than two hours. Of course, thanks to the natural variability of weather, the actual date of the coldest weather will vary considerably from year to year — even though this is far more likely to occur in winter. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, for the northern tropics, the coldest day of the year across a 30-year period can occur in most months. For most of southern and central Australia, the range is from April or May to anytime between August and November.