solar calendars
Year-tracking by sunlight
Solar calendars are timekeeping systems based on Earth's orbit around the sun, dividing the year according to seasonal cycles rather than lunar phases.
The Gregorian calendar used throughout most of the world is a solar calendar, with its 365-day year (plus leap years) tracking the time between vernal equinoxes.
Most Western countries switched from the Julian to the Gregorian solar calendar by the 18th century.
- day24-hour period
- leap dayFebruary's occasional extra
- equinoxSun crosses celestial midline
- monthYear's twelfth part
- longest dayMaximum daylight occurrence
harvest time · year · new year · leap year · chronologies · seasonal cycles · spring equinox · astronomy · intercalation · eclipse · dates · Stonehenge · times · Chichen Itza · sun worship · time keeping · vernal equinox · lunar phases
solar calendarslunar calendars
Timekeeping by moon cycles
Islamic calendar · Hebrew calendar · Chinese calendar · Hindu calendar · Jewish calendar
solar, calendar, sol, solstice, solarium, parasol, insolation, calendars, calendrical