Did you know the latest sunsets of the year happen after the Solstice?

[elleng]

Sunset tonight for Baltimore is at 8:37 PM EDT. It will stay at 8:37 until July 1st (8:36 PM). It will then get earlier and earlier until we hit December 1st, when the Sun will set at 4:43 PM EST.

[rurallib]

1. yep and a similar phenomena happens in winter

when the earliest sunset happens somewhere @Dec. 6th to Dec 13th well before the solstice and the sunrises keep getting later until January 6th.
- note that these are some form of christian holidays BTW

Another kicker is that the sun is furthest from the sun somewhere @July 8th at 94.506 million miles. But it won't be any cooler.

[John1956PA]

2. Yes. The reason is that, since the year 1246, aphelion has occurred later than solstice.

The reason why aphelion has been moving further from solstice (it is now about 15 days after solstice) is the Earth's axial precession as it rotates on its axis. This phenomenon causes the precession of the equinoxes. An example of precession of the equinoxes is that, for about the past 2,000 years, the first day of spring (vernal equinox) occurs when the sun is in the constellation Pisces. In about 500 years from now, the first day of spring will occur when the sun is in the constellations Aquarius.