For the summer solstice, almost 6,000 people gathered to Stonehenge to see the dawn.
The sun’s yearlong trip reaches its northernmost peak in the sky at 5:14 a.m. Tuesday.
As Earth’s north pole tilts directly towards the sun, we have the longest hours of daylight and the shortest hours of darkness in the Northern Hemisphere.
It’s the summer’s astronomical greeting! The sun’s path will then appear to shift, and the number of hours of daylight will gradually decrease.
The illusion is that the sun paused for a little while, which is how the celestial event got its Latin name, solstice.
Our sun is Sol. Standing or appearing still is what stiticum, or stice, means.
The fewest hours of daylight are experienced in the Southern Hemisphere, when winter begins below the equator.
The sun sets more slowly around the solstice.
The shallower the setting sun’s angle is the farther the sun is from directly due west.
The sun takes longer to descend below the horizon because of this angle.
On Friday, midsummer day, another seasonal calendar moment approaches.
It was originally assumed that the halfway point of the growing season, the time between planting and harvest, was mystical.
Some tribes believed that staying up late on Midsummer’s Eve to see the sunrise would bring them good health for the rest of the year.
Look for the stunning planet lineup of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn at predawn on Friday, with the crescent moon between Venus and Mars.
