Madrid (EFE).- Summer, the longest season of the year with just over 93 days in the northern hemisphere, starts today at 4:58 p.m., peninsular official time, with the planets Jupiter and Saturn as protagonists at dawn.
This season will last approximately 93 days and 16 hours, and will end on September 23 with the beginning of autumn, according to calculations by the National Astronomical Observatory (OAN), which also state that no solar eclipse will occur throughout the summer of 2023. or Moon.
Visible planets in summer
Before sunrise, summer will begin with Jupiter and Saturn, but the latter will disappear in late August in the glow of dawn, while Venus will appear in the east; at the end of the season, Mercury will begin to be visible.
On the contrary, at sunset, Venus and Mars will be the only planets visible, but as the months go by, the former will get closer to the Sun and gradually disappear from the sky, giving way to a brief appearance of Mercury for a few weeks. between July and August.
In addition to the planets, during the summer months groups of bright stars will be distinguished in the sky, such as the so-called “summer triangle” formed by Altair, in the constellation of the Eagle; Deneb, in the constellation of Cygnus, and Vega, in the constellation of Lyra.
Also typical of these months are the constellations of Scorpio, with the bright and reddish star Antares, and Sagittarius, whose position indicates approximately the center of the Milky Way and which can be seen in all its splendor in summer by crossing the sky from south to north. .
Phenomena of astronomical interest
Other phenomena of astronomical interest will be the delta aquarid meteor showers, whose maximum is expected around July 30, and the popular perseids, around August 12, which will coincide with the thin waning moon. Full moons will appear on July 3, August 1, and August 31.
On July 6, the moment of maximum annual distance between the Earth and the Sun, called aphelion, will take place. When that happens, our distance from the Sun will be just over 152 million km, that is, about 5 million km more than at the moment of smallest distance (perihelion), on January 4.
Some curiosities about summer
With a duration of just over 93 days, summer in the northern hemisphere is the longest season of the year, due to the fact that the Earth’s orbit around the Sun is not circular but elliptical, and summer coincides with the time of year in which Earth is farthest from the Sun.
Throughout the 21st century, summer will begin between June 20 and 21 (Spanish official date) with its earliest start being in 2096 and the latest in 2003; the variations from one year to another are due to the duration of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun (known as a tropical year) as it fits into the sequence of leap years of the calendar.
On June 21, coinciding with the start of the season, it will be the longest day, and, for example, in cities like Madrid this duration is expected to be 15 hours and 3 minutes, data far removed from 9 hours and 17 minutes of the day plus short (winter solstice).