data based upon (until in June) ancient NASA ephemeris data 2011-2020, date (beginning in July) from the 'Calendar of Astronomical Events' by Fred Espenak on his site AstroPixels.com, and some data with the 'Astronomical Phenomena for The Year 2020,' a joint work by the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office and the U.S. Naval Observatory; to be found at the latter's site
The year 2020 is a leap year as the month of February will feature 29 days. The Jewish calendar will have the year 5781 beginning on Sept. 18, the Islamic calendar the year 1442 on Aug. 19, and the Chinese New Year -- Year of the Rat -- occurring on Jan. 25
Here are the dates of seasons in 2020. Seasons are astronomical events in relation to the position of the Earth on its orbit around the Sun (for more about how seasons work, check our tutorial 'Seasons')
. the vernal equinox occurs on March 20th at 03:50 UT. It's spring North and fall in the southern hemisphere
. the summer solstice occurs on June 20th at 21:43 UT. It's summer in the northern hemisphere and winter South
. the autumnal equinox occurs on September 22nd at 13:31 UT. It's fall North and spring South
. the winter solstice occurs on December 21st at 10:03 UT. It's winter in the northern hemisphere and summer in the southern
Each year Earth, further, is reaching its perihelion (its closest to the Sun) and aphelion (its farthest from the Sun). for more about how those concepts work, check too our tutorial 'Seasons'
. Earth's perihelion occurs on January 5th at 09:59 UT
. Earth's aphelion occurs on July 4th at 13:00 UT
