Polar Night

Polar night happens at the very top and bottom of our planet, far away from where most people live. It's like a special club for places inside the Arctic Circle and Antarctic Circle. When it's polar night in one of these places, the sun doesn't peek over the horizon for a whole day or even longer! It’s like the sun is playing hide-and-seek for a super long time.

Even though the sun is down, it's not always completely black. Sometimes, there's a soft glow called twilight. It’s like the sky is wearing a dim nightlight. During the brightest twilight, you can still see bright stars and even planets like Venus! As it gets darker, it becomes true night, where only the brightest stars can be seen.

Our Earth is like a spinning top that's tilted over a little bit. Because of this tilt, sometimes the top part of Earth (the Arctic) is tilted away from the sun, and sometimes the bottom part (the Antarctic) is tilted away. When a part is tilted away, the sun can’t shine on it for more than 24 hours, causing the polar night!

Polar night has a super cool twin called polar day, or the midnight sun! This is when the sun stays up for more than 24 hours. So, while one polar region is enjoying a long night, the other is having a super long day. It’s like Earth is taking turns with sunshine and darkness in its coldest spots.