Hi,

Your answer :
The "astronomical" summer begins at a precise moment on June 21st (sometimes the 22nd), which is called the "summer solstice". At this moment the Earth leans towards the Sun exposing to the maximum its northern half. As you can see in the drawing on the right, the rays of the Sun "go beyond" the North Pole and illuminate the whole interior of the Arctic CIRCLE.

If you have the chance to go once in this region in the summer, you will see the "midnight sun", as in this video that follows the Sun in accelerated for a week. In EUROPE also the Sun lights us longer in summer, as you can understand on the drawing. June 21st is also called "the longest day". This is one of the reasons why it is hotter in summer, but especially the sun's rays also arrive more perpendicular to the ground in our regions. They have to cross less air from the atmosphere and so heat us up too. The place of the Earth where the rays of the Sun arrive perpendicularly to the ground at noon at the summer solstice is called the Tropic of Cancer.At the winter solstice December 21 (or 22) everything is reversed: it is the night all day in the Arctic Circle, but the day in the Antarctic Circle around the South Pole. It is a shorter day at home and the sun's rays arrive more inclined as it is summer in the SOUTHERN hemisphere, towards the Tropic of Capricorn.

So for the Australians and the other inhabitants of the southern hemisphere, the seasons are reversed: they celebrate Christmas on the beach, and ski in July-August!

But how are the seasons between two, in the region of Ecuador? In fact, between the two tropics there is not much difference between summer and winter. The sun's rays fall almost perpendicular to the ground at noon: it is always warm, it is a "tropical" climate. In ADDITION the duration of the days varies only very little: the Sun rises all the year around 6 o'clock in the morning and goes to bed around 6 o'clock in the evening while diving straight behind the horizon. In a few minutes it is dark, while in the polar regions it is NEVER very dark. even during the very long winter nights.

Good bye :)