(by Leslie)
We’ve been in Fairbanks almost four months now, and the
summer solstice—as well as our return to California—is nigh. So what you all
are no doubt wondering is, what’s it been like, having the midnight sun?
Before I answer that question, a few words about this
phenomenon—the midnight sun. Right now, the sun is setting at about 12:30 a.m.
and rising at about 3:00 a.m. We therefore technically have some 21.5 hours of
sun per day. But in reality, we have 24 hours of light per day, because when
the sun does set, it merely dips a few degrees below the horizon, not resulting
in much change in light. In fact, we now no longer have any “civil twilight”
(the brightest of the three classes of twilight)—it’s all just plain old “sunlight.”
One could read a book outdoors at midnight if one so
desired. (Though the mosquitoes would likely prevent one from having this
particular desire. More about that later.) Here’s a photo I took the other
night a little after midnight:
it was actually
lighter than this suggests;
I had to under-expose
the photo to show the color of the sky
