newyorktimes

This article, originally published in 2018, has been updated to reflect 2020’s solstice date.

On the summer solstice this Saturday, the Northern Hemisphere will dip toward the sun and bathe in direct sunlight for longer than any other day of the year. That will cause the sun to rise early, climb high into the sky — sweeping far above city skylines or mountain peaks — and set late into the evening.

The solstice occurs because Earth does not spin upright but leans 23.5 degrees on a tilted axis. Such a slouch, or obliquity, has long caused astronomers to wonder whether Earth’s tilt — which you could argue is in a sweet spot between more extreme obliquities — helped create the conditions necessary for life.