Why does it never get dark at certain times of the year in Alaska?

Question

I'm watching the movie, "Insomnia" which I think is taking place in Alaska. It's winter time and Al Pachino was asking to be taken to a high school to interview someone. Hillary Swank says it's 10:00 at night and explains it doesn't get dark this time of year. What's the reason? How is it possible with our rotating planets that Alaska at certain times of the year would be constantly exposed to the sun for several months? Thanks.

Answer 1

Because Alaska is so close to the north pole and the fact that we are tilted towards the sun during the summer (when this happens) the sun never gets blocked fully, but does get blocked partially at times.

Remember that earth is on a tilted axis.

Answer 2

Go get hold of an apple. Stick a coffee stick through the middle. Hold it near a light, tilt it a little towards the light, then revolve it around the stick so that the stick does not wobble but stays pointing at the same place in the ceiling.

You will see that the top of the stick always has the light on it.

It is as simple as that, yet it confuses so many people.

Since the earth is tilted 23.5 degrees it means that everywhere from latitude 66.5 degrees north (that's 23.5 deg from the Pole) will get at least one day where the sun does not set.

The further north you go, the more days they get where the sun does not set, until at the Pole there is 6 months daylight.

That 66.5 deg line is the Arctic Circle.

Answer 3

Is it really true that the stars seen in a northerner's sky do not seem as numerous and as bright as those in more southerly skies? Since almost everything is better in the Yukon and Alaska, it hurts to admit that our view of the stars is, in fact, inferior.

The reason has nothing to do with the stars themselves. Although the stars are not uniformly distributed in the heavens, the spinning of the earth on its axis exposes to all stargazers similar stellar concentrations through the night. The greatest concentration is seen viewing regions of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. It appears essentially overhead in Alaskan skies, though only about 30 degrees above the horizon at the North Pole.

At high latitudes, the stars do not stand out against the blackness of the sky because the sky there is not black. Even at middle and low latitude the sky is not truly black because of weak luminosity of the high atmosphere. Called airglow, this light emission arises largely from chemical reactions and is about as strong as the integrated, i.e., the total, light from all the stars. Thus at lower latitudes, starlight and the night airglow equally illuminate the earth.

Night airglow typically is brighter at high latitude than at low. Also diffuse auroral glow adds to the light of the night sky. Together the airglow and diffuse auroral emissions provide a rather bright background to view the stars against. In photographic terms, the northern sky scene has reduced contrast compared to the sky farther south. The weakest visual stars cannot be seen, and the brightest stars do not stand out as well.

So even if our stars do not appear as bright and numerous, at least our night skies are brighter than those to the south.

The midnight sun is a phenomenon occurring in latitudes north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle where the sun is visible at the local midnight. Given fair weather conditions, the sun is visible for a continuous 24 hours. Since there are no permanent human settlements south of the Antarctic Circle, the countries and territories whose population experiences it are limited to the ones crossed by the Arctic Circle, i.e. Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia and extremities of Iceland. A quarter of Finland's territory lies north of the Arctic Circle, and as a consequence the midnight sun can be experienced — for more and more days, the further north one goes. At Finland's northernmost point, the sun does not set for 73 days during summer. At Nordkapp in Norway, what is normally denoted as the northernmost point in Europe, there are 76 days (from 14 May to 30 July) of proper midnight sun and an additional few days with partial sun before and after.

The extreme sites are the poles where the sun can be visible for a continous half year.

Locations above 60 degrees latitude that are south of the Arctic Circle or north of the Antarctic Circle experience midnight twilight instead. The sun is just below the horizon, so that daytime activities, such as reading, are still possible without resorting to artificial light, on the condition it is not cloudy.

White nights have become a common symbol of Saint Petersburg, Russia, where they occur from about 11 June to 11 July, and the last 10 days of June are celebrated with cultural events.

Answer 4

Because the earth rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun.
The axis is on an angle when looking at the track that the earth travels on when it circles the sun.
At certain times of the year the northern parts of the earth are exposed to the sun through out the rotation of the day due to the angle of the axis.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

Ms. Gail,
I'll assume you're serious. "Summer" is the time when the North Pole is tilted as much as 23 degrees toward the sun. Parts of Alaska are close enough to the N. Pole that - when the N.Pole is pointed toward the sun - they have sun... regardless of what the clock says.

Answer 7

This is caused by the rotation and tilt of our planet. When it is winter time the north pole is tilted toward the sun so it never gets dark. I hope this answered your question.