How do one determine the longest and the shortest day in the year?
The longest day is summer solstice, usually June 21 or 22. The shortest is the winter solstice, exactly six months away, December 21 or 22. You can figure out which one it is in any given year by looking at a calendar, or googling “solstice”. It’s determined by the motion of the earth, so we can predict what day it’ll be for millions of years in advance. There will be a difference of only a minute or two between the two days, so it’s not like you really need to take the exact day into account when scheduling an evening picnic. If you’re a primitive society, and you don’t have google yet, you can determine by building a giant stone temple like Stonehenge: • Stand somewhere that you have a clear view of the eastern horizon • Every day when the sun comes up, mark the point in the direction of where you see it. • The furthest point north will be the longest day of the year (in the northern hemisphere). It’ll be back to the same point the next year on the longest day. Ditto with south for t
