World
Stunning places on Earth where Sun never sets
The sun never sets and it is always daytime.
Earth is full of amazing and fascinating events, but did you know there were even such places that have never actually witnessed a sunset?
There are countries where the sun never sets and it is always daytime. People in these areas live in a very different way than the rest of the world. These places are known by many names like ‘land of the midnight sun’, ‘empire where the sun never sets’, etc.
This is because the Earth rotates on its axis around the sun—following its spherical nature, hence, only one side of it can face the Sun at one time.
In most parts of the world, a day is divided into 24 hours based on the geographical notion that the Sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening, dividing the day into 12 hours each.
In this article, we will take you through 7 such countries where the sun never sets.
Saint Petersburg, Russia
First and foremost, we will place Russia’s northern region, Saint Petersburg, at the top. It is a port city, where the sun shines for almost 2 months straight, during summer, from mid-May to mid-July. In winters, the temperature of this region falls as low as -36 degrees centigrade.
Nights during this phase are famously known as White Nights. However, from December 2 to January 11, the sun does not rise in these parts of Russia and remains stationary for 40 days.
Finland
Finland— Russia’s neighboring country— is a northern European country. During summertime, most parts of Finland never experience a sunset for straight 73 days.
Finland is the world’s most prosperous country and has a quarter of its land area within the Arctic Circle, and the average temperature here is around 07 degrees Celsius even in the summer. Southern Finland is bitterly cold. The temperature remains below freezing, and on some nights, it drops to – 30 degrees Celsius.
Kiruna, Sweden
The northernmost city of Sweden, with a population of 19000, Kiruna is bright almost for almost 100 days a year.
The phase of no sunset lasts from May to August every year. Constant sunshine may occur for up to six months in a year in the country.
Norway
Known as the Land of the Midnight Sun, Norway— located in the west of Sweden— never experiences sunset for a period of 76 days. The sun does not set from May to July. The country experiences up to 20 hours of daylight per day. It is a sparsely populated area in Europe due to its harsh weather.
Situated in the Arctic Circle, Norway is also one of the most prosperous countries and the people here are at number eight on the list of happy people.
Iceland
The largest island in Europe after Britain, Iceland is a clean and cool country where there are no mosquitoes.
Asides from its popularity as a country without mosquitoes, this place is known for the Aurora more than anything else which shades the fact that there is no sunset. But there is no evening in the month of June on this island, as it experiences very bright nights during summer.
Greenland
In North America where the sun is more or less like northern Europe. The main island of Greenland is geographically part of North America and politically and administratively part of Europe. The sun shines 24 hours a day in summer and stays overnight.
Alaska
Alaska is also in the list of countries where the sun never sets from late May until late July night. Interestingly, winter time brings absolute darkness to the country for 30 consecutive days, bringing absolute darkness to the country.
There are waves of sunshine in summer. But the sun does not rise here for a whole month. This period without sun rise is known as the polar night.