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26-626: The Mermaid Parade traditionally takes place on the Saturday closest to the summer solstice , June 21, regardless of weather. Its intent is to celebrate self-expression, boost pride in Coney Island, and give New York artists a place to display their artwork. There are no ethnic, religious, or commercial aims. The parade pays homage to the Coney Island Mardi Gras parades of the early 20th century. During this era, Coney Island

52-488: A lack of money and resources following the recovery from Hurricane Sandy . It was rescued through a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised $ 117,000, more than the $ 100,000 goal. The 2020 parade was replaced by a virtual event ( The Tail-a-Thon ) due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The parade was delayed in 2021 to September 12 (marking the last weekend that lifeguards would be on duty at Coney Island) in order to improve

78-461: A quarter circle. Declinations with magnitudes greater than 90° do not occur, because the poles are the northernmost and southernmost points of the celestial sphere. An object at the The sign is customarily included whether positive or negative. The Earth's axis rotates slowly westward about the poles of the ecliptic, completing one circuit in about 26,000 years. This effect, known as precession , causes

104-603: Is J2000.0 , which is January 1, 2000 at 12:00 TT . The prefix "J" indicates that it is a Julian epoch . Prior to J2000.0, astronomers used the successive Besselian Epochs B1875.0, B1900.0, and B1950.0. A star 's direction remains nearly fixed due to its vast distance, but its right ascension and declination do change gradually due to precession of the equinoxes and proper motion , and cyclically due to annual parallax . The declinations of Solar System objects change very rapidly compared to those of stars, due to orbital motion and close proximity. As seen from locations in

130-551: Is always a negative number for southern latitudes). An extreme example is the pole star which has a declination near to +90°, so is circumpolar as seen from anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere except very close to the equator. Circumpolar stars never dip below the horizon. Conversely, there are other stars that never rise above the horizon, as seen from any given point on the Earth's surface (except extremely close to

156-726: Is arranged geographically and within the tables from the longest day to the shortest one. Times that occur the next day (21 June) are marked with . The length of day increases from the equator towards the North Pole in the Northern Hemisphere in June (around the summer solstice there), but decreases towards the South Pole in the Southern Hemisphere at the time of the southern winter solstice. Declination In astronomy , declination (abbreviated dec ; symbol δ )

182-458: Is called midnight sun . Likewise, near the local winter solstice, the Sun remains below the horizon all day, which is called polar night . When an object is directly overhead its declination is almost always within 0.01 degrees of the observer's latitude; it would be exactly equal except for two complications. The first complication applies to all celestial objects: the object's declination equals

208-441: Is comparable to geographic latitude , projected onto the celestial sphere , and right ascension is likewise comparable to longitude. Points north of the celestial equator have positive declinations, while those south have negative declinations. Any units of angular measure can be used for declination, but it is customarily measured in the degrees (°), minutes (′), and seconds (″) of sexagesimal measure , with 90° equivalent to

234-419: Is one of the two angles that locate a point on the celestial sphere in the equatorial coordinate system , the other being hour angle . The declination angle is measured north (positive) or south (negative) of the celestial equator , along the hour circle passing through the point in question. The root of the word declination (Latin, declinatio ) means "a bending away" or "a bending down". It comes from

260-713: Is seen as summer's beginning. In Sweden , midsummer is one of the year's major holidays when the country closes down as much as during Christmas. The following tables contain information on the length of the day on 20 June 2016, close to the summer solstice of the Northern Hemisphere and winter solstice of the Southern Hemisphere . The data was collected from the website of the Finnish Meteorological Institute as well as from certain other websites. The data

286-440: Is seen as the beginning of summer. On the summer solstice, Earth's maximum axial tilt toward the Sun is 23.44°. Likewise, the Sun's declination from the celestial equator is 23.44°. Although the summer solstice is the longest day of the year for that hemisphere, the dates of earliest sunrise and latest sunset vary by a few days. This is because Earth orbits the Sun in an ellipse, and its orbital speed varies slightly during

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312-481: Is the day with the longest period of daylight and shortest night of the year in that hemisphere, when the sun is at its highest position in the sky. At either pole there is continuous daylight at the time of its summer solstice. The opposite event is the winter solstice . The summer solstice occurs during the hemisphere's summer . In the Northern Hemisphere , this is the June solstice (20, 21 or 22 June) and in

338-479: The Roman Empire , the traditional date of the summer solstice was 24 June. In Germanic-speaking cultures, the time around the summer solstice is called ' midsummer '. Traditionally in northern Europe midsummer was reckoned as the night of 23–24 June, with summer beginning on May Day . The summer solstice continues to be seen as the middle of summer in many European cultures, but in some cultures or calendars it

364-478: The Southern Hemisphere , this is the December solstice (20, 21, 22 or 23 of December). Since prehistory, the summer solstice has been a significant time of year in many cultures, and has been marked by festivals and rituals. Traditionally, in temperate regions (especially Europe), the summer solstice is seen as the middle of summer and referred to as midsummer ; although today in some countries and calendars it

390-413: The equator . Upon flat terrain, the distance has to be within approximately 2 km, although this varies based upon the observer's altitude and surrounding terrain). Generally, if a star whose declination is δ is circumpolar for some observer (where δ is either positive or negative), then a star whose declination is − δ never rises above the horizon, as seen by the same observer. (This neglects

416-402: The poles , declination is uniform around the entire horizon, approximately 0°. Non-circumpolar stars are visible only during certain days or seasons of the year. The Sun's declination varies with the seasons . As seen from arctic or antarctic latitudes, the Sun is circumpolar near the local summer solstice , leading to the phenomenon of it being above the horizon at midnight , which

442-423: The Earth's Northern Hemisphere , celestial objects with declinations greater than 90° −  φ (where φ = observer's latitude ) appear to circle daily around the celestial pole without dipping below the horizon , and are therefore called circumpolar stars . This similarly occurs in the Southern Hemisphere for objects with declinations less (i.e. more negative) than −90° −  φ (where φ

468-435: The chances that it could be held, but on August 18 it was announced that the parade would be cancelled out of an abundance of caution due to a resurgence of COVID-19 in the region. The Mermaid Parade is known for marine costumes and occasional nudity. There are sections in the parade for vehicles of all kinds, for floats, for groups, and for individuals. There are also family friendly and artsy categories. The organizers of

494-447: The coordinates of stationary celestial objects to change continuously, if rather slowly. Therefore, equatorial coordinates (including declination) are inherently relative to the year of their observation, and astronomers specify them with reference to a particular year, known as an epoch . Coordinates from different epochs must be mathematically rotated to match each other, or to match a standard epoch. The currently used standard epoch

520-423: The effect of atmospheric refraction .) Likewise, if a star is circumpolar for an observer at latitude φ , then it never rises above the horizon as seen by an observer at latitude − φ . Neglecting atmospheric refraction, for an observer at the equator, declination is always 0° at east and west points of the horizon . At the north point, it is 90° − | φ |, and at the south point, −90° + | φ |. From

546-433: The observer's astronomical latitude, but the term "latitude" ordinarily means geodetic latitude, which is the latitude on maps and GPS devices. In the continental United States and surrounding area, the difference (the vertical deflection ) is typically a few arcseconds (1 arcsecond = ⁠ 1 / 3600 ⁠ of a degree) but can be as great as 41 arcseconds. The second complication is that, assuming no deflection of

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572-604: The parade claim to encourage bribery , to give participants a more equal chance to win the various costume contests which are also part of the day's entertainment. Each year the Mermaid Parade features a King Neptune and Queen Mermaid . Summer solstice The summer solstice or estival solstice occurs when one of Earth 's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun . It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern ). The summer solstice

598-404: The procession to the beach for a ceremony representing the opening of the ocean for the summer swimming season. The tradition began in 1983, when the first event of this kind was conceptualized and organized by Dick Zigun, the founder of the non-profit arts organization Coney Island USA , who is sometimes dubbed the "Mayor of Coney Island." The parade of June 22, 2013, was almost canceled due to

624-422: The same root as the words incline ("bend forward") and recline ("bend backward"). In some 18th and 19th century astronomical texts, declination is given as North Pole Distance (N.P.D.), which is equivalent to 90 – (declination). For instance an object marked as declination −5 would have an N.P.D. of 95, and a declination of −90 (the south celestial pole) would have an N.P.D. of 180. Declination in astronomy

650-733: The year. There is evidence that the summer solstice has been culturally important since the Neolithic era. Many ancient monuments in Europe especially, as well as parts of the Middle East, Asia and the Americas, are aligned with the sunrise or sunset on the summer solstice (see archaeoastronomy ). The significance of the summer solstice has varied among cultures, but most recognize the event in some way with holidays , festivals , and rituals around that time with themes of fertility. In

676-477: Was the primary amusement park destination for those in the New York metropolitan area . Like the annual Village Halloween Parade , the Mermaid Parade evokes the artistic spirit of Mardi Gras . The event typically attracts about 3,000 participants and hundreds of thousands of spectators from all five boroughs of New York City . After the last participant passes the reviewing stand, parade founder Dick Zigun leads

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