About this page
Where the year stands: the current astronomical season with its dates, the road to the next solstice or equinox, and a thin line filling as the year passes. The four turning points are computed from a standard astronomical series—the same arithmetic the almanacs use—and shown on the İstanbul clock. The names follow the northern hemisphere’s sky; south of the equator, read each season as its opposite.
Questions
When is the next solstice or equinox?
The page computes it live whenever you open it: the next of the four turning points—March equinox, June solstice, September equinox, December solstice—with its date, its local İstanbul time and the days remaining. The instants come from a standard astronomical series and are good to well within the hour.
What is the difference between astronomical and meteorological seasons?
Astronomical seasons begin at the solstices and equinoxes—the sun’s actual turning points—so summer starts about 21 June. Meteorological seasons are the statistician’s tidy version, whole months at a time: summer is June, July, August. This page keeps the astronomical calendar.
Why do the dates shift from year to year?
A tropical year runs about 365 days and a quarter, so each turning point drifts nearly six hours later every year until a leap year pulls it back a day. That is why the March equinox can fall on the 19th, 20th or 21st depending on the year and your time zone.
Is this page for the northern hemisphere?
Yes—the season names follow the northern sky, where June brings the summer solstice. South of the equator the same instants hold but the seasons are reversed: a northern summer solstice opens the southern winter.
More instruments: days between dates, the phase of the moon and İstanbul’s twilight—or see all of them.