Why does the sun not rise in Barrow during the winter? / Why does the sun not set in Barrow during the summer?
The Earth does not sit level in space. If you were to imagine a large, flat surface that the Earth and Sun sit on, you would notice that the Earth’s North Pole does not point straight up, it actually points about 23.45° away from straight up. This tilting of the earth is why Barrow receives so much sun during summer and so much darkness in winter. The picture below illustrates Earth’s position in relation to the sun during the four seasons. In this illustration, the red dot represents the North Pole (off to the side because the Earth does not point straight up), the yellow ring represents the path that Barrow takes as the Earth rotates, and the small green dot represents Barrow’s position at mid-day at each of the four locations. Barrow is located relatively near the North Pole (approximately 71° 30″ N), making it only about 18° 30″ south of the North Pole. Since this is less than the Earth’s 23.45° tilt, that means that Barrow has a lot of sunshine when the North Pole is pointed towar
