Summer solstice stats

[radiantfracture]

Happy solstice!

I don't really know the distinctions between night, astronomical twilight, nautical twilight, civil twilight, and daylight -- except that the first one is dark and the last one is light -- but the Internet says that today we had 16 hours 7 minutes of daylight, 1 hour 24 minutes of civil twilight, 1 hour 58 minutes of nautical twilight, 3 hours 51 minutes of astronomical twilight, and only 40 minutes of actual night.

This is thoroughly unimpressive compared to most of Canada, and even Vancouver, because Victoria dips down below the 49th parallel. Still, it seems kind of cool.

The city where I was born had no minutes of true night at all, and 17 hours 8 minutes of daylight. My friend F. lives on the Isle of Iona; they had no night or astronomical twilight, and 17 hours 42 minutes of daylight. In Reykjavik, they had 21 hours and 8 minutes of daylight, and the remainder was civil twilight.

You?

{rf}

Comments

[highlyeccentric]

14 hours 31 minutes of daylight here. Nautical twilight ended about an hour after sunset. I think there were just under six hours between end and start of astronomical twilight (which is the period when it's dark but not dark enough for astronomers). Very nice, very civilised, the best thing about Tokyo is its climate.

[sabotabby]

I didn't keep track because I was at a three-hour opera. It was dark when I got out.

[radiantfracture]

That seems fair.

[heliopausa]

That is very cool! How does one find out how much actual night there is at any particular place?
And solstice greetings to you, too. :)

[radiantfracture]

Welllll, I just searched it and looked at this website: www.timeanddate.com, so caveat browser, but I liked the idea that there were all of these gradations of darkness before night.

[thewayne]

Boy, can my wife lecture you on that! But astronomers, especially the ones that actually schedule telescope access, have to be experts on it!

[mount_oregano]

At some point during the night they turned off the lights at Wrigley Field. Previous to that it was baseball twilight. (The lights, although two miles away, actually cast faint shadows in my house.)

[radiantfracture]

"Baseball twilight" is an excellent addition to the terminology.

[derien]

I can't seem to get yesterday, but here's what I can get for today.
Actual Time
Sunrise 5:00 AM
Sunset 8:28 PM
Civil Twilight
4:23 AM
9:05 PM
Nautical Twilight
3:36 AM
9:52 PM
Astronomical Twilight
2:35 AM
10:53 PM
Length of Visible Light
16 h 41 m
Length of Day
15 h 28 m
Tomorrow will be 0 minutes 5 seconds shorter

I used to think I'd like more daylight, but as I get older I value dark for sleeping. ;)

[shewhomust]

I've been holidaying at 60°N, so although I can't provide those figures, I can tell you about a night in those parts.

[radiantfracture]

Amazing! Thank you for the link.

Now you know

[marycatelli]

Civil twilight means the period after sundown, or before sunrise, when things can be seen distinctly. As in, witnesses can see well enough to testify.

Nautical twilight is after that and is the period in which the horizon is visible and stars can be see. It is important in navigating by the stars.

Astronomical twilight is the period before the stars of faintest magnitude are visible and hence, owing to light pollution, a generally useless term.

Re: Now you know

[ranunculus]

Ahhh, Civil Twilight means the period in which I can still see to work easily. The period within which some of my friends tolerate chainsaw work.
Nautical Twilight is the period in which I will work, if needed, and protest that I "can too see".
Astronomical Twilight is the time which I will pretend to see, standing up on the tractor to gain faint glimmers of the last tire tracks and wishing heartily for a full moon.

Re: Now you know

[radiantfracture]

I love this on-the-ground taxonomy of the combined effects of low light and stubbornness.

[notasupervillain]

Is civil Twilight a real thing? I thought it was just a weakerthans song.

[marycatelli]

Yup. Has many legal consequences, hence the name.

[radiantfracture]

Like having to be out of the park by sunset and things like that?

[marycatelli]

Tends to be more on the order committing burglary after it was treated more seriously than during the day.

[radiantfracture]

I had no idea. What was the rationale?

[marycatelli]

Well, for one thing, at night you'd be more likely to be asleep and so vulnerable.

[notasupervillain]

Cool! I did not know that at all.

[radiantfracture]

I figure the bus driver also really did mutter "I hate Winnipeg."

[notasupervillain]

Lol. Can't blame them.