Why do we have seasons?


Status: R

Hi. The Earth has seasons because the Earth's axis (the imaginary line
that goes through the North and South Poles) is tilted. As the Earth
goes around the Sun, sometimes the northern hemisphere is tilted toward
the Sun, and sometimes away. We get summer in the northern hemisphere
between June and August, because the northern hemisphere is tilted
toward the Sun around that time. This means that we have longer days,
so we get lots of sunlight, and the sunlight that we get is hitting
us more directly than during the winter. All of this energy means
the summer is hot. At the same time, the southern hemisphere is tilted
away from the Sun. So they have shorter days (in fact, at the South Pole,
there is no sunlight for many months) and the sunlight that they get
is very indirect. Then in the fall months in the northern hemisphere,
we are not really tilted toward or away from the Sun, then in Dec-Feb, we
are tilted away from the Sun in the northern hemisphere (while they have
summer in the southern hemisphere). Finally in the spring in the
northern hemisphere we are back to no tilt towards or away.

fall in North
spring in South

\
()
\
N
\ --axis \
() --Earth SUN ()
\ \
S
winter in North \ summer in North
summer in South () winter in South
\

spring in North
fall in South

I hope this helps!


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