GUWAHATI, Dec 4: Utqiaġvik, a town in Alaska is under darkness since November 18 when the sun had last set and will see sunrise only on January 22, 2025, after more than two months; 65 days to be exact.
But if you are wondering whether it’s unusual for the sun to not rise for 65-odd days then it is not since this happens every year as the earth’s tilt moves the Northern Hemisphere farther from the sun, carrying anything in the Arctic Circle – any region within 23.5 degrees of the North Pole – out of the sun’s line of sight, causing the onset of “polar night.”
During polar night, the sun never takes so much as a peak above the horizon, preventing an actual “daytime.”
Polar night in Utqiaġvik, America’s northernmost town, lasts for 65 days, while the North Pole itself won’t see the sun for a whopping 179 days, The Weather Channel reported.
However it wount be pitch dark during the entire period of polar night, thanks to a daily phase called “civil twilight” the sun is within 6 degrees below the horizon.
In Utqiaġvik, civil twilight ranges from roughly 3 hours on the winter solstice to 6 hours on the first and last day of polar night, The Weather Channel further reported.
