In the summer, it’s hot and the days are long. In winter, it’s colder and the sun sets earlier.

These are the signs of the changing seasons throughout the year.

How do we change season?

Let’s look from space! The earth has an imaginary line round the middle called the equator. Above it is the Northern Hemisphere and below, the Southern Hemisphere.

Our planet spins round on a tilted axis at 23°.

It also goes right around the Sun in a year.

As the Earth is tilted, it doesn’t always face the sun the same way throughout the year. Hence the changing seasons!

There’s a period when the Northern hemisphere is facing the sun. This part of the Earth receives more heat and light: it’s summer.

At the same time, the Southern Hemisphere gets less heat, it’s winter!

Six months later, it’s the southern hemisphere that faces the Sun. So it’s colder in the northern hemisphere.

The seasons are the opposite in both hemispheres.

In 2019, 21 June is the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere and the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere. The 22 December is the opposite!

If you want to spend your life in the sun, you must change hemisphere at the end of each summer. What a scramble!