CubaPLUS Magazine

Today, the Cuban capital will experience the longest day of the year, that is, it will experience the summer solstice, when the sun will remain on the horizon for 13 hours and 33 minutes.

A comprehensive explanation of this phenomenon is offered on his Facebook account by professor and researcher Luis Enrique Ramos(*), coordinator of the History commission at the Cuban Meteorological Society, who added that this Thursday, June 20, the Earth will reach the orbital point corresponding to the summer solstice, which will occur at 4:50 p.m., Cuba time, with the Sun in the constellation of Taurus. By then, the Earth-Sun distance will be approximately 152 million kilometers, he explained.

The expression “solstice,” the specialist later noted, comes from the Latin sol-sistere (sun in the same place), which means in practical terms that our star will stop its declination to the north and will remain motionless in the sky. This virtual “solar stop” will last a moment, because the direction of movement across the celestial sphere will immediately reverse and begin to decline to the south; therefore, summer in Cuba will last exactly 93 days, 15 hours, and 52 minutes, he noted.

He also highlighted that this June 20 for the southern hemisphere of the planet, the duration of the daytime interval is minimum, while for the north it is maximum, which does not mean that the Earth is closer to the Sun or there is more heat. In the Cuban capital, he reiterated, the Sun will remain above the horizon for 13 hours and 33 minutes, with sunrise at 6:38 a.m. m. and sunset at 8:05 p.m.  So we invite you to enjoy the longest day of the burning Cuban summer.  (*) Professor and researcher Luis Enrique Ramos is advisor to the presidency of the Economic Society of Friends of Cuba, secretary of scientific activities in the Havana branch of the Union of Historians of Cuba and scientific collaborator of the Office of the Historian of Havana.