Overview
Congratulations. Not only have you made it through an entire year, and an entire month of Christmas carols, but you've also reached a neat yearly milestone. Today is the longest day of the year — and not just because you're staring out the window before your office goes on holidays tomorrow. Today — that is Wednesday, December 21 — is the 2017 summer solstice.
What does that mean? Well, it means that today has the most daylight hours of any other day this year. That's because the earth's axis at this point in time puts the sun is at the highest point in the southern hemisphere's sky, creating a longer period of sunlight. This happens once a year in each hemisphere.
How long the day is exactly will depend on where you live — the further south you are (i.e. closer to the South Pole), the longer the day. According to ABC News, Sydney will get 14 hours, 24 minutes and 43 seconds of sunlight today, while up north Brisbane will get about half an hour less. Hobart gets the longest one of all, with the day stretching for 15 hours and 21 minutes.
Interestingly, the summer solstice doesn't coincide with the earliest sunrise or latest sunset, which take place on separate summer days. It might not have the hype of the last month's supermoon, but it's still a great excuse to get do something outdoorsy after work tonight.
Via ABC News.