by The IS the summer solstice on Thursday marks the end of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and the beginning of a brand new season, one that promises more warmth and more sunshine. To mark the transition to the summer of 2024, the astronomical event serves as a kind of grand opening: everywhere above the equator, it will be the longest day of the year.
At Stonehenge, a prehistoric monument of giant stones now a protected heritage site in southern England, historians believe that ancient people built a ceremonial circular structure of giant sarsen stones with the specific intention of honoring and celebrating the solstice.
Stonehenge is thought to be some kind of spiritual or ritual land, mysteriously erected around 2,500 BCE, although the real reasons why people built it, and what they used it for, are still unknown. The stones were carefully raised and dressed in the late Neolithic period, or the Stone Age, — when creating such a monument would have been an amazing feat of construction and engineering.
To a person standing in the middle of Stonehenge, the layout is oriented so that the stone frame is, to be precise, the sunrise on the summer solstice and the sunset on the the winter solstice. Thousands of people flock to the site each year on both solstices to witness the phenomenon for themselves.
Just a day before this year’s summer solstice, the climate protestors were spray stonehenge with orange paint make a statement against fossil fuels. The organization that manages the Stonehenge site, English Heritage, told CBS News that the incident was “extremely upsetting and our conservators are investigating the extent of the damage,” but that the monument remained open to the public.
What is the summer solstice?
Technically the solstice is the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and its inverse, the winter solstice, coincides with winter throughout the Southern Hemisphere.
It occurs when the Earth, tilted 23.5 degrees on its axis, reaches the maximum point at which the northern half of the planet has been directed towards the sun since the summer solstice. Because the Earth is constantly rotating on its axis and orbiting the sun at the same time, this tilt allows each hemisphere to be bathed in the longest amount of daylight for only one per year.
There are seasons on Earth because of the 23.5 degree tilt. As the planet spins and travels its orbital path overhead about 365 days, The slanted axis of the Earth means the angles at which different parts of its surface face the sun throughout the year. During the Northern Hemisphere’s summer solstice, which usually falls on June 20 or June 21 – this year it’s June 20 – those cosmic mechanics point the top of the planet toward the sun. At the North Pole, six months of daylight begin, and at the South Pole, it means six months of darkness instead.
Conditions reverse six months later, when the Earth reaches a point in its orbit where its axis tilts back so that the South Pole is closest to the sun. On that day, usually December 21 or 22, the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere brings the shortest stretch of daylight, and the Southern Hemisphere begins its summer.
Crowds gather at Stonehenge in December to also celebrate the winter solstice.
Why is June 20 the longest day of 2024?
The North Pole is never as tilted towards the sun as it is during the summer solstice. That characteristic inclination exposes more of the Northern Hemisphere to sunlight at one time than it does at any other point in the Earth’s revolution. From the perspective of a person on the ground, that exposure creates the longest period of daylight in 24 hours to occur throughout the year.
This year, the North Pole reaches its most extreme tilt at 4:51 pm EDT on June 20, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The sun then passes directly over the Tropic of Cancer, a meridian wrapping horizontally around the Earth’s circumference at 23.5 degrees above the equator. The line passes through Mexico, the Bahamas, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India and southern China.
At the other end of the cycle, when the North Pole is tilted as far as possible away from the sun, the part of the Northern Hemisphere that can reach the sunlight is as small as possible. This is why 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 it.
How to celebrate the summer solstice throughout history
The summer solstice is an event that civilizations have witnessed and celebrated for thousands of years. Historians believe that the Neolithic people who built Stonehenge were part of a wider ancient culture in northern and central Europe which, according to experts, recognized the solstice and the changing seasons as they related to agriculture and, b perhaps with the timing of crop cycles.
The British non-profit National Trust writes in an overview of ancient solstice traditions that the event was “typically marked by Celtic, Slavic and Germanic peoples by lighting bonfires, which were intended to boost the strength of the sun for the rest of the crop season and ensure a healthy harvest.” Other Neolithic stone circles like Stonehenge also appear to have been built with the solstices in mind, according to the organization.
These days, people mark the solstice with their own take on traditional ancient ceremonies. Festivals and bonfires are common in communities around the world. But there are many ways in which people today acknowledge the seasonal transit of the Earth. Depending on where it happens, the summer solstice celebration can look like a baseball game at midnight in Fairbanks, Alaska, or all day. mass yoga collection in Times Square.
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