In 2026, the summer solstice will occur on June 21 at 01:50 Astana time. This marks the astronomical start of summer, the longest day and shortest night in the Northern Hemisphere. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

According to astronomers, days begin to shorten after the summer solstice. This is the day when one hemisphere receives the most daylight. Then days become shorter, and by the autumnal equinox, day and night are nearly equal in length.

"Imagine the Earth moving around the Sun in space. As we know, our planet orbits the Sun and rotates around its own axis—an imaginary straight line passing through the Earth from the North to the South Pole. This axis is not perpendicular to the plane of Earth's orbit, but is tilted by about 23.5°. That is why during the year, the North and South poles tilt toward the Sun at different angles. The moment when one of Earth's hemispheres reaches its maximum tilt toward the Sun is called the summer solstice in that hemisphere. On this day, it receives the greatest amount of sunlight, and we observe the longest day of the year," scientists say.

They also urge not to confuse two existing concepts:

  • 01**Calendar summer**, which lasts strictly from June 1 to August 31. This is a purely administrative and familiar boundary.
  • 02**Astronomical summer**, which begins at the moment of the summer solstice (in 2026 — June 21) and ends on the day of the autumnal equinox (September 22).

As experts note, the planets of the solar system have seasons because each has a tilted rotation axis. Only Mercury has such a small tilt that no one can determine when one season ends and the next begins.

"Let's see how long summer lasts on other planets," astronomers suggest.

Among all planets, Uranus has the most interesting seasons due to its extreme axial tilt of 98° (the planet literally rotates on its side relative to the plane of the solar system). This is a summer day that lasts a quarter of a lifetime. This is the case with Uranus, whose summer half faces the Sun continuously for 21 years. Meanwhile, the other (winter) half of this amazing planet remains in darkness for 21 years. But in spring and autumn, the situation changes. During equinoxes, sunlight shines on the equatorial region of the planet. Uranus rotates on its axis every 17 hours and 14 minutes. This means that during this time, most of the planet has a fairly normal day-night cycle of 17 hours.

Earlier, Kursiv wrote about a "mini-parade" of three planets: Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter, which night sky enthusiasts could observe on June 12.