Google’s Solstice Doodle(s)
We’ve once again reached a remarkable point as the world wobbles on. Today — at 1.16 p.m. to be precise — is the solstice. Up here in the Northern Hemisphere it’s the summer solstice; for the folks South of the equator, it’s the winter solstice, of course: the longest and the shortest day of the year, respectively. And because we often remark on Google Doodles here on Slaw, I thought I might point out that today it’s a Google Twoodle, the particular one depending on where you find yourself, both being the work of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami:
The style is known as “kawaii,” which more or less translates as “cuteness” in English, a concept deeply embedded in Japanese culture.
In North America there’s a tendency to call the summer solstice the “first day of summer”; but, as the Guardian points out, in Europe it’s celebrated as midsummer’s day — which, when you think about it astronomically at least, makes more sense. Either way, for us northerners it’s all downhill from here (or uphill, depending on how you like your metaphor) as the days get shorter with the approach of winter.
To be precise, unambiguous, and more than a little pedantic, “1.16 p.m.” means “17:16 UTC”.
You know, funny thing is I thought about the time zone thing — until I realized that midsummer is a moving target, so it happens at 1.16 p.m. wherever you are. (Well, give or take the width of a province or two.) No? So UTC is unnecessary for once.
And there was I in the UK expecting it pedantically at 12:16 UTC :-)
(Hope I got that right!)
Simon, the angle of the Earth’s axis relative to Sol varies in a continuous fashion, so there is only one point in time each year at which the angle hits the special summer solstice angle.
Nick, the UK is currently on British Summer Time (BST), which is one hour off UTC. The solstice will occur at 18:16 BST.
David, I see what you mean — I think: There is one (universal) time when the sun does its solstice thing (viz. finds itself at its most northerly?). As a compensation, though, there is an infinity of runner up prizes, which would be (more or less?) noon around the hemisphere, when the longest day is at its midpoint, meaning, I suppose, that the sun is at its most northerly point for where you happen to be. Would that be right?
I think I see what you mean, too, Simon.
Given the sunrise and sunset times that Environment Canada posted for Toronto for today, and assuming that the sun’s full height is reached at the midpoint between those two, I believe that the sun reached its highest point in the sky above Toronto for 2011 at about 13:19 local time (EDT).
How well known is UTC? When we revised the Time Act of Ontario in 1986 (to push the start date of daylight time to the first Sunday in April from the last) and again in 2006 (by reg; legislated in 2009) (to push it up to the second Sunday in March and extend it to the first Sunday in November), we thought of defining the two Ontario time zones in terms of UTC. However, at the time the term was not common at all. Does Wikipedia help?
The Interpretation Act, RSC 1985, c I-21 also still refers to GMT rather than UTC. However, this seems like an example of legal inertia more than anything else.
At risk of oversimplifying: GMT is an older, now-ambiguous term. UTC is a newer, more precise international standard. GMT is used by some as a colloquial way to refer to UTC. The world, especially the virtual world, runs on UTC, not GMT.
In 1986, UTC had been in effect for only 14 years (since 1972-01-01) and might still have been wet behind the ears. The standard is now almost 40 years old and it enjoys widespread use around the world.
Thanks, David. OTOH I have just about never seen a reference to UTC except here, and in some National Research Council documents at the time of the 1986 revision. The email systems I use (Eudora, Outlook, Yahoo) tend to list the time of sending as GMT + n, not UTC at all.
Let’s face it, Canada officially went metric in 1971 (or so), and we still buy butter by the pound (even if it’s 454 grams), and we measure people in feet and inches. Weather temperatures are generally Celsius, but do we cook in Celsius-denominated ovens? Most don’t.
In short, age of a standard alone does not impose it. I wonder if a poll of people on the street would turn up widespread recognition of UTC (or of GMT, for that matter – but I suspect the latter would come out ahead.)
The Legislation Act (part 6 of which is Ontario’s interpretation statute) does not mention Greenwich or UTC, nor do any other Ontario statutes or regulations.
Learned something, thanks David. I have now consulted trusty old Wikipedia and am also an expert.