Happy, summer solstice 2020! Google Doodle celebrates Earth's changing seasons

News
By Tariq Malik
published

The seasons are changing and it's winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

Google celebrated the summer solstice of June 20, 2020 for the Northern Hemisphere (and winter in the Southern Hemisphere) with fun Google Doodles.  (Image credit: Google)

It's official: Summer is here for Earth's Northern Hemisphere while winter arrives in the south and Google is celebrating with artful style. 

Google has unveiled two doodles to mark the 2020 June solstice, one for summer as it begins in the north today (June 20) and another for winter, which begins in the Southern Hemisphere. It also marks the day with the most daylight hours in the north, and the fewest in south.

Related: Stunning summer solstice photos (gallery) 

The summer solstice is a moment when the sun reaches its farthest point north of the celestial equator in the sky. That will happen at 5:43:32 p.m. EDT (21:43:32 GMT), when the sun will reach a point directly overhead of the Tropic of Cancer (latitude 23.5 degrees north) in the central Pacific Ocean, 817 miles (1,314 kilometers) east-northeast from Honolulu.

Google's summer solstice doodle features an intrepid flamingo soaring through a sunny sky in an hot air balloon.

Google celebrated the winter solstice of June 20, 2020 for the Southern Hemisphere with this Google Doodle.  (Image credit: Google)

While the solstice heralds hotter days for Earth's northern regions, it marks the shift from fall to winter (and longer nights) in the Southern Hemisphere. Google's doodle for the event featured a snowy night as a penguin sight-sees in a balloon.

So wherever you may be, have a happy summer (or winter) solstice for 2020!

Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Instagram. 

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Tariq Malik
Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.