of summer solstice Thursday’s sun will signal the end of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and the start of a new season that promises warmer weather and more sunshine. The astronomical event will serve as a sort of grand opening to mark the transition to summer in 2024, when it will be the longest day of the year anywhere above the equator.
in StonehengeAt the Sarsen Site, a protected cultural heritage site in southern England featuring huge prehistoric stone monuments, historians believe that ancient people built a ceremonial circular structure out of giant sarsens with the specific intention of honouring and celebrating the summer solstice.
Enigmatically constructed around 2500 BC, Stonehenge is thought to have been some kind of spiritual or ritual site, but the exact reasons people came up with the idea for it, or what it was used for, remain a mystery. The stones were lifted and meticulously placed in place during the Late Neolithic, or Stone Age, period; constructing such a monument at this time would have been an impressive feat of advanced architecture and engineering.
For someone standing at the center of Stonehenge, its alignment is such that it precisely frames the summer solstice sunrise and summer sunset. winter solsticeEvery year, thousands of people flock to the site on both the summer and summer solstice to see this phenomenon for themselves.
Just one day before the summer solstice this year, climate change protesters Stonehenge was sprayed with orange paint English Heritage, the organization that manages Stonehenge, told CBS News that the incident was “deeply tragic and caretakers are currently assessing the extent of the damage,” but that the monument remains open to the public.
What is the Summer Solstice?
Strictly speaking, the summer solstice marks the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and the winter solstice marks the beginning of winter in the Southern Hemisphere.
It is the Earth It is tilted 23.5 degrees from the axis.marks the greatest point at which the northern half of the Earth faces the Sun since the last summer solstice. Because the Earth is constantly rotating on its axis as it orbits the Sun, this tilt gives each hemisphere the opportunity to experience the longest period of sunlight only once a year.
The Earth has seasons because of its 23.5 degree tilt. As the Earth rotates and moves in its orbit, Approximately 365 daysThe tilt of the Earth’s axis means that the angle at which different parts of the Earth’s surface face the Sun changes throughout the year. The Northern Hemisphere’s summer solstice usually occurs on June 20 or 21 (June 20 this year), when the cosmic system causes the top of the Earth to move slightly ahead of the Sun, beginning six months of daylight at the North Pole, but six months of darkness at the South Pole.
Six months later, the situation is reversed as the Earth’s orbit tilts back on its axis and the South Pole reaches its closest point to the Sun. On that day, usually December 21 or 22, the Northern Hemisphere experiences its shortest hours of daylight due to the winter solstice, while the Southern Hemisphere sees the start of summer.
People also gathered at Stonehenge in December to celebrate the winter solstice.
Why is June 20th the longest day of 2024?
The North Pole is most tilted toward the Sun at the summer solstice. This pronounced tilt exposes a larger area of the Northern Hemisphere to sunlight at one time than at any other point in the Earth’s revolution. From the perspective of people on Earth, this exposure creates the longest 24-hour period of daylight in any given year.
This year, the North Pole will be at its greatest tilt on June 20 at 4:51 p.m. EDT. according to To the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: The sun is directly above the Tropic of Cancer, a line of longitude that circles the Earth horizontally 23.5 degrees above the equator. This line passes through Mexico, the Bahamas, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India, and southern China.
On the other side of the cycle, the North Pole is tilted as far away from the Sun as possible, so the Northern Hemisphere receives the least amount of sunlight, so the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year for people above the equator and the longest day of the year for people below the equator.
How the Summer Solstice Has Been Celebrated Throughout History
The summer solstice is an event that civilizations have observed and celebrated for thousands of years. Historians believe that the Neolithic people who built Stonehenge were part of a broader ancient culture in Northern and Central Europe. Experts say that culture likely recognized the solstice and the changing of the seasons in relation to agriculture, and possibly crop harvesting times.
The National Trust, a British non-profit organization, Ancient Summer Solstice Traditions The event was “usually celebrated by Celts, Slavs and Germanic peoples by lighting bonfires, with the aim of enhancing the power of the sun and ensuring a good harvest for the rest of the crop season,” the group said. Other Neolithic stone circles similar to Stonehenge were also likely built with the summer and winter solstices in mind, the group said.
Today, people celebrate the summer solstice with their own interpretations of ancient traditional rituals. Festivals and bonfires are common in communities around the world, but there are countless ways modern people celebrate the changing of the Earth’s seasons. Depending on where you are, the summer solstice may be celebrated in the following ways: Midnight baseball game Fairbanks, Alaska or Full Day Large-scale yoga gathering At Times Square.