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Our amount of daylight hours depends on our latitude and how Earth orbits the sun. Earth’s axis of rotation is tilted from its orbital plane and always points in the same direction — toward the North Star. As a result, the orientation of Earth’s axis to the sun is always changing throughout the year as we revolve around the sun. Sometimes the axis points toward the sun and other times away from the sun. As this orientation changes throughout the year, so does the distribution of sunlight on Earth’s surface at any given latitude. This tilting leads to a variation of solar energy that changes with latitude. This causes a seasonal variation in the intensity of sunlight reaching the surface and the number of hours of daylight. The variation in intensity results because the angle at which the sun’s rays hit the Earth changes with time of year.

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Does Earth tilt towards or away from the sun?

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Does Earth tilt towards or away from the sun?

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The seasons are caused as the Earth, tilted on its axis, travels in a loop around the Sun each year. Summer happens in the hemisphere tilted towards the Sun, and winter happens in the hemisphere tilted away from the Sun.

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How the angle of sunlight affects the Earth's seasons

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How the angle of sunlight affects the Earth's seasons

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The amount of heat energy received at any location on the globe is a direct effect of Sun angle on climate, as the angle at which sunlight strikes the Earth varies by location, time of day, and season due to the Earth'sorbit around the Sun and the Earth's rotation around its tilted axis.

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Spring Equinox: March 21
Fall Equinox: September 22
Summer Solstice: June 20
Winter Solstice: December 21

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As the earth spins on its axis, producing night and day, it also moves about the sun in an elliptical (elongated circle) orbit that requires about 365 1/4 days to complete. The earth's spin axis is tilted with respect to its orbital plane. This is what causes the seasons. When the Earth's axis points towards the Sun, it is summer for that hemisphere. When the Earth's axis points away, winter can be expected. Since the tilt of the axis is 23 1/2 degrees, the north pole never points directly at the Sun, but on the summer solstice it points as close as it can, and on the winter solstice as far as it can. Midway between these two times, in spring and autumn, the spin axis of the Earth points 90 degrees away from the Sun. This means that on this date, day and night have about the same length: 12 hours each, more or less.

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The Spring & Fall Equinoxes and Summer & Winter Solstices

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The Spring & Fall Equinoxes and Summer & Winter Solstices

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Click to view picture.

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Summer happens in the hemisphere tilted towards the Sun, and winter happens in the hemisphere tilted away from the Sun.

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1. The earth's orbit around the sun is a highly elongated (skinny) ellipse, making the distance between earth and sun vary dramatically over the course of a year.

2. The sun is pretty far off-center within the earth's orbit, making the distance between earth and sun vary with time of year even more.

3. The seasons are controlled by the distance between the earth and sun. During winter, the earth is farther from the sun than in summer.

4. The tilt of the earth's axis of rotation puts the Northern Hemisphere significantly closer to the sun in June than the Southern Hemisphere (producing summer in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere).