The longer days are due to the Earth being tilted on its axis. In the summer, the Northern Hemisphere is tipped towards the sun, while in the winter, it's tipped away. This is reversed in the Southern Hemisphere.

This is what midnight looks like in Norway during the summer.

When you're camping in Denali National Park in Alaska, you don't need a fire for light.

After a month of night and several months of near-night, people are always excited for the return of the sun. Sunlight is needed for vitamin D absorption, and constant darkness is linked to depression. So when the sun comes back out, everyone feels much better. People stay up late into the "night" and play outside. Inuvik, a town of about 3,000 in Canada's Northwest Territories (and located two degrees above the Arctic Circle) has an annual Midnight Sun Fun Run starting at 11 pm.

Typically, the Midnight Sun starts at the beginning of June and lasts until around July 20. From then on, the days get consecutively shorter until winter.

After so many days of complete darkness, people celebrate the return of the sun, like at this Midnight Sun Festival.



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