Summer arrives on Sunday afternoon at 12:38 p.m. Summer begins for us in that moment, though the weather and the signs have been around for a while. The precise time is more a concept than anything we can observe, measure in time, or experience. It is a moment when the overhead sun reaches farthest north above the equator, our time. If one could follow the sun at the zenith on this day and draw a line on the ground, the line would be what appears on maps as the Tropic of Cancer, a ring around the earth, at latitude 23.5 degrees.

Afterwards, the noontime sun begins its trek South. Our longest days of summer start to shorten; our shortest summer nights start to lengthen.

Our sun has very little to do in this amazing relationship with us, other than shine. Our slightly off-kilter spinning Earth orbiting the sun is responsible for giving us our year, our seasons, and our days and nights.

Crescent Moon, Jupiter and Venus

The two brightest objects high in the western sky have a visitor this weekend, the moon. Venus, the brightest of planets, appears high above the western sky. Friday night the crescent moon appears nearby, just underneath Venus. This is a pretty spectacle. Saturday night, the moon has advanced a little farther and appears near the bright planet Jupiter.

The scene this weekend is a spectacle, but stay tuned. By the end of the month and beginning of July, Jupiter and Venus appear as a close pair.