Best of the Long Island Sun Chasers Summer Solstice Edition

By Mike Busch

It is hard to believe that another summer is here with the official Summer Solstice occurring Thursday morning at 6:07 a.m. In the Northern Hemisphere, this simply means this is the day the our part of the Earth tilts closest to the Sun. It is also the longest day of the year at 15 hours and 5 minutes. In comparison, the December 21st Winter Solstice will only have 9 hours and 15 minutes of daylight, almost 6 hours less! Because it happens so gradually, it is hard to notice how far the Sun moves in relation to our location. Below are a few screenshots showing the dramatic change in sun angle between the Winter and Summer Solstice.

I usually make a point of trying to capture the first sunset of the summer but a quick moving fog bank rolled in very late in the afternoon on Thursday, foiling my plan to shoot from Smith Point. Luckily it was very localized and the Long Island Sun Chasers ended up with a spectacular sunset from Robert Moses, Captree, Fire Island Lighthouse, Jones Beach, Cedar Beach, Long Beach and all over the North Shore. I could have done this entire feature based on Thursday alone but there were some great ones earlier in the week as well.

This week’s cover shot goes to Scott Heaney with an amazing shot that appears to have been taken from the bayside of the Fire Island Lighthouse. If you have a minute check out all 6 pages, with the last three all taken on the Summer Solstice Thursday.