Day and Night: Changes During the Year
This visual allows you to investigate the appearance of day and night over a 12 month period using the image of a flat map and of a globe. To investigate, place your cursor on the globe, click and drag across the image. The questions below are used to assist you in your observations.
This visual shows the appearance of earth at 18:00 GMT. The globe is oriented so that the equator is horizontal. The date of view is printed under the globe. The observer of the globe is directly over the 0 degree latitude 0 degree longitude location. The region of twilight is shown as daytime to provide a clear, distinct separation between day and night.
On what date is most of Antarctica in darkness all day long? On what date is most of Antarctica in sunlight all day long?
Where is the location on the earth where there is minimal change in the duration of daylight over the year?
About how many months does England have daylight at 18:00 GMT?
On what date does the day/night image look similar to the image on 21 March? What is special about these dates?
On what date is the duration of sunlight minimized in the southern hemisphere? What is special about this date?
On what date is the duration of sunlight minimized in the northern hemisphere? What is special about this date?
When is the first day of summer in Australia? When is the first day of summer in the United States?
Set the date to 21 June. Notice that the North Pole is in sunlight all day long. If this is the case, why doesn't it get warm there during this period of time?
What causes the seasons?
Copyright 1999 John C. Park for Science Junction
Still images of Earth ©1999 The Living Earth, Inc.