{"id":960,"date":"2025-06-04T20:50:49","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T20:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/?p=960"},"modified":"2025-06-04T20:50:49","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T20:50:49","slug":"junes-night-sky-notes-seasons-of-the-solar-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/?p=960","title":{"rendered":"June\u2019s Night Sky Notes: Seasons of the Solar System"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By: Kat Troche<br \/>\nNASA JPL<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Uranus-Seasons.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-964\" src=\"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Uranus-Seasons.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1005\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Uranus-Seasons.jpeg 2000w, http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Uranus-Seasons-300x151.jpeg 300w, http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Uranus-Seasons-1024x515.jpeg 1024w, http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Uranus-Seasons-768x386.jpeg 768w, http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Uranus-Seasons-1536x772.jpeg 1536w, http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Uranus-Seasons-624x314.jpeg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Uranus rolls on its side with an 84-year orbit and a tilt just 8\u00b0 off its orbital plane. Its odd tilt may be from a lost moon or giant impacts. Each pole gets 42 years of sunlight or darkness. Voyager 2 saw the south pole lit; now Hubble sees the north pole facing the Sun. Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC), Michael Wong (UC Berkeley); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Here on Earth, we undergo a changing of seasons every three months. But what about the rest of the Solar System? What does a sunny day on Mars look like? How long would a winter on Neptune be? Let\u2019s take a tour of some other planets and ask ourselves what seasons might look like there.<\/p>\n<h2>Martian Autumn<\/h2>\n<p>Although Mars and Earth have nearly identical axial tilts, a year on Mars lasts 687 Earth days (nearly 2 Earth years) due to its average distance of 142 million miles from the Sun, making it late autumn on the red planet. This distance and a thin atmosphere make it less than perfect sweater weather. A recent weather report from Gale Crater boasted a high of -18 degrees Fahrenheit <a href=\"https:\/\/mars.nasa.gov\/layout\/embed\/image\/mslweather\/\">for the week of May 20, 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Mars-Seasons.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-966\" src=\"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Mars-Seasons.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"860\" height=\"389\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Mars-Seasons.jpg 860w, http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Mars-Seasons-300x136.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Mars-Seasons-768x347.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Mars-Seasons-624x282.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 860px) 100vw, 860px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>An artist&#8217;s rendition of Mars\u2019 orbit around the Sun, and its seasons. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Seven Years of Summer<\/h2>\n<p>Saturn has a 27-degree tilt, very similar to the 25-degree tilt of Mars and the 23-degree tilt of Earth. But that is where the similarities end. With a 29-year orbit, a single season on the ringed planet lasts seven years. While we can\u2019t experience <a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/missions\/hubble\/hubble-captures-the-start-of-a-new-spoke-season-at-saturn\/\">a Saturnian season<\/a>, we can observe a <a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/missions\/hubble\/hubble-views-saturn-ring-plane-crossing\/\">ring plane crossing<\/a> here on Earth instead. The most recent plane crossing took place in March 2025, allowing us to see Saturn\u2019s rings \u2018disappear\u2019 from view.<\/p>\n<h2>A Lifetime of Spring<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Neptune-Spring.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-965\" src=\"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Neptune-Spring.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1314\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Neptune-Spring.jpeg 2000w, http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Neptune-Spring-300x197.jpeg 300w, http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Neptune-Spring-1024x673.jpeg 1024w, http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Neptune-Spring-768x505.jpeg 768w, http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Neptune-Spring-1536x1009.jpeg 1536w, http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Neptune-Spring-624x410.jpeg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>NASA Hubble Space Telescope observations in August 2002 show that Neptune&#8217;s brightness has increased significantly since 1996. The rise is due to an increase in the amount of clouds observed in the planet&#8217;s southern hemisphere. Credit: NASA, L. Sromovsky, and P. Fry (University of Wisconsin-Madison)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Even further away from the Sun, each season on Neptune lasts over 40 years. Although changes are slower and less dramatic than on Earth, scientists have observed seasonal activity in Neptune\u2019s atmosphere. <a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/missions\/hubble\/brighter-neptune-suggests-a-planetary-change-of-seasons\/\">These images<\/a> were taken between 1996 and 2002 with the Hubble Space Telescope, with brightness in the southern hemisphere indicating seasonal change.<\/p>\n<p>As we welcome summer here on Earth, you can build a <a href=\"https:\/\/solar-center.stanford.edu\/AO\/Sun-Track-Model.pdf\">Suntrack<\/a> model that helps demonstrate the path the Sun takes through the sky during the seasons. You can find even more fun activities and resources like this model on NASA&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/stem-content\/wavelength-and-energy\/\">Wavelength and Energy<\/a> activity.<\/p>\n<p><strong>This article is distributed by NASA\u2019s Night Sky Network (NSN).<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The NSN program supports astronomy clubs across the USA dedicated to astronomy outreach. Visit go.nasa.gov\/nightskynetwork to find local clubs, events, and more<strong>!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: Kat Troche NASA JPL Uranus rolls on its side with an 84-year orbit and a tilt just 8\u00b0 off its orbital plane. Its odd tilt may be from a lost moon or giant impacts. Each pole gets 42 years of sunlight or darkness. Voyager 2 saw the south pole lit; now Hubble sees the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nasa-space-place"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=960"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":967,"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/960\/revisions\/967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lunar.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}