Seasons & Earth's Tilt
This happens when the Earth is tilted toward the Sun, causing longer daylight hours and warmer temperatures.
What is summer?
This happens when a place gets fewer daylight hours and has more time to cool down.
What is winter?
Many people think this controls the seasons, but it actually has very little effect.
What is the Earth’s distance from the Sun?
In Juneau, Alaska, the Sun is visible for this many hours on a summer day.
What is 19 hours?
The Northern and Southern Hemispheres have opposite seasons because Earth’s axis always tilts in this direction.
What is the same direction?
This imaginary line, tilted at 23.5 degrees, runs through Earth's poles and causes the seasons.
What is Earth's axis?
During summer, this place never has the Sun set for months at a time.
What is the North Pole?
Only two regions on Earth experience four distinct seasons.
What are temperate zones?
During winter, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted in this direction relative to the Sun.
What is away from the Sun?
This motion of Earth takes about 365.25 days and causes us to experience different seasons.
What is Earth's revolution?
The Earth is actually closer to the Sun during this month, even though it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere.
What is January?
This changes throughout the year, making the Sun appear higher or lower in the sky at different times.
What is the Sun’s angle?
This famous U.S. holiday is a summer beach day in the U.S. but can be a winter holiday in other parts of the world.
What is the Fourth of July?
This country has summer in December because it is in the Southern Hemisphere.
What is New Zealand?
This date marks the official start of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
What is December 21st?
The Sun appears highest in the sky on this day in June, making it the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
What is the summer solstice?
The shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere happens around this date in December.
What is the winter solstice?
If only daylight hours controlled temperature, this place would be the hottest in the world during summer.
What is the North Pole?
As you move further north, the number of these increases in summer, leading to nearly constant daylight at the poles.
What are daylight hours?
The reason why the North Pole remains cold even with 24 hours of daylight in summer.
What is low-angle sunlight?
The reason the North Pole gets 24 hours of sunlight in summer but 6 months of darkness in winter.
What is Earth's tilt?
This famous scientist discovered that planets move in oval-shaped orbits, not perfect circles.
Who is Johannes Kepler?
If the Earth were not tilted, we would no longer experience these yearly changes.
What are the seasons?
This region gets the longest daylight hours in summer but also the longest darkness in winter.
What is the Arctic Circle?
Even though Earth’s orbit is slightly oval, the shape is close to this geometric figure.
What is a circle?