Afraid of the dark? Not much to fear these days

What’s not to love about June? The sun is up before 5:30 a.m. and it doesn’t set until after 9 p.m.

Sunrise and sunset times are one thing, but when it comes to darkness and light, we should take into account the many shades of twilight:

There is astronomical twilight, known as partial darkness, after sunset or before sunrise, when the centre of the sun is between 12 and 18 degrees below the horizon.

Nautical twilight: that period in the morning and evening when the sun is between 6 and 12 degrees below the horizon.

Civil twilight: when the geometric centre of the sun’s disk is no more than 6 degrees below the horizon.

With all these twilights, how much true darkness is there these days? Well, for example, let’s use June 22 data for Charlottetown, P.E.I.

Sunrise: 5:27 a.m. – Sunset: 9:08 p.m.

Astronomical Twilight – 2:34 a.m.-3:48 a.m.

Nautical Twilight – 3:48 a.m.-4:41 a.m.

Civil Twilight – 4:41 a.m.-5:20 a.m.

Daylight – 9:07 p.m.-9:46 p.m.

Nautical Twilight – 9:46 p.m.- 10:39 p.m.

Astronomical Twilight – 10:39 p.m.-11:53 p.m.

Night – 11:53 p.m.-2:34 a.m.

You’ll find total darkness in

Charlottetown between 11:53 p.m. and 2:34 a.m., a grand total of 2 hours and 41 minutes. Labrador City is plunged into total darkness for only 1 hour and 28 minutes. In Halifax, there is no light in the sky at all for 3 hours 25 minutes.

Photographers like Barry Burgess take advantage of the soft light in the night sky to create stunning images. With milder nights on the way, why not give it a try?

Another Barry Burgess masterpiece! Black Brook Falls, Cape Breton Highlands National Park at 3:16 a.m., on Sunday June 17. Barry said that “Twilight was already dawning”. The waterfall was illuminated with a flashlight, but the sky is all Mother...

Summer is here and so are the butterflies. Philomene spotted this stunning Canadian Tiger Swallowtail feeding on her irises at the cottage in Port Howe, N.S. Another great reason to garden!