Earth’s axis is tilted slightly, relative to the sun. Places farther from the equator receive varying amounts of sunlight during the year, depending on which of Earth’s hemispheres is facing the sun. The area near the equator, called the tropics, gets about 12 hours of sunlight each day year-round. The tropics lie between two other imaginary lines of latitude, the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.