I love summer evenings, and I've always been sad on the longest day of the year in June because I know the days will be getting shorter from then until December. I can't believe I didn't know until this summer that the sun doesn't start going down any earlier for a while.

The sun stays up noticeably longer each day from December to June, and I assumed it went down noticeably sooner each day after the first day of summer. I was wrong.

Our local weatherman, Mike Alger, wrote in his newspaper column,

Our elliptical orbit around the sun means that we are now travelling at a slower speed around the sun. Because of that, we don't have to spin as far past 360 degrees to see the sun again. This effect delays the time that the sun sets each night, offsetting the shortening of the days.

He was right (of course). I've paid attention since I read that July 7, and the sun has been staying up almost as late every evening. Roughly speaking, it's been light until 8 or so all summer.

But don't the days get shorter after the solstice? Yes, they do, but the daylight is lost in the morning! Now that I'm aware of it, I remember how the sun was waking me up about 5 a.m. in June but it's still dark at 5 now. That's fine with me since I would much rather be sleeping then.

Lately, though, I've reluctantly noticed it getting dark a little earlier in the evening. Alger explains, "As we speed up our orbit, that offsetting effect evens out, and both sunrises get later and sunsets get earlier."

I've enjoyed the long summer evenings while they've lasted, and they're not over completely yet. Thank you, elliptical orbit!