The Earth’s the North Pole is tilted closest to the Sun during the Summer Solstice, making it seem at its highest position in the sky. Ahead of the summer solstice, huge crowds in the United Kingdom gather at Stonehenge to view the sunset.
The summer solstice, commonly known as the longest day of the year, will occur on June 21 and will usher in the returning of longer, lighter evenings. The summer solstice will take place in the Northern Hemisphere on Tuesday at 5:14 am EDT (2.44 pm IST) (June 21).
The Sun will be at its highest point in the sky this year at the same time. When Earth’s the North Pole will tilt closest to it.
We are now only one day away from the midpoint of the year. The summer solstice celebrations as the days grow shorter and the light begins to peek through the British clouds.
Many civilizations have a highly unique and spiritual day known as the solstice. It falls at roughly the same time everywhere in the world. They traditionally signal the start of the summer season.
What is a Solstice?
The earth’s axis of rotation is slanted around 23.4 degrees relative to the Earth’s rotation around the Sun, resulting in solstices. As a result of the tilt, the globe experiences seasons because the Northern and Southern Hemispheres receive different quantities of sunshine throughout the year.
The Northern Hemisphere is oriented further toward the sun from March to September. That propels the Spring and Summer. The Earth’s axis is tilted most strongly toward the Sun twice a year.
Solstices and equinoxes aren’t unique to Earth; they occur on all planets with rotational axes.
What happens during the summer solstice?
Our planet is now precisely over the Tropic of Cancer, where its orbit takes it when the North Pole is at its greatest inclined toward the Sun. The days preceding the solstice have the longest daylight hours of the year. Since that is when the sun travels the furthest north in the sky.
The longest day of the year is known as the Summer Solstice. It occurs when the sun takes its longest route across the sky, giving that day the most daylight.
The period of the year when the Earth comes closest to the sun is at the exact hour of the solstice.
The start of summer, which lasts until the Autumnal Equinox, coincides with the summer solstice, according to the astronomical definition of the seasons.
Winter officially begins on December 1 every year, and summer officially begins on June 1. According to the meteorological definition, which divides the year into four seasons of three full months each based on the Gregorian calendar.
Traditions associated with the summer solstice
The summer solstice has been celebrated in great detail ever since antiquity. Farmers celebrated the day by seeding or harvesting crops, while others used it to prepare calendars.
A sun-worshipping Neolithic civilization constructed Stonehenge between 5,000 and 3,500 years ago. Located on a windswept plain in southwest England. Although its purpose is still up for question, it is positioned so that on the summer solstice. The sun rises behind the Heel Stone and shines directly into the centre of the circle.
Even today, locals and visitors visit Stonehenge to view the summer solstice sunrise.
Celebrations across the world on this day
“The Summer Solstice was celebrated in ancient China with a ceremony honoring the Earth, femininity, and the ‘yin’ forces. It went well with the Winter Solstice, which honored the skies, manliness, and “yang” elements.”
The Summer Solstice is a time for midsummer night celebrations in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland. The Midnight Sun is currently present in regions close to the Arctic. Around the bonfires and Maypoles, people dance. Violets and vanilla flowers are used to decorate homes.
The Guardian claims that thousands of “pagans, healers, nature lovers, and party-goers” descended upon the location on Tuesday to see the sunrise.
Since it is the longest day of the year, the summer solstice heralds the return of lighter evenings. This astronomical event began on June 20, 2021, at 10:32 p.m. Central Daylight Time (CDT), for people in North America, and on June 21, 2021, at 03:32 UTC, for everyone else.
The North Pole of Earth is at its highest point in the sky this year at this precise moment, tilted closest to the Sun.
At the historic stone circle in southern England, where the sun rose at 4:49 a.m. on a clear, crisp morning, Wiltshire Police said that roughly 6,000 people had assembled.
Although the stone circle is a perfect place for celebrating the solstice because it is aligned with the midsummer sunrise, the celebration has a troubled history.
Since 2019, revilers had not been allowed to congregate on the solstice. Due to the corona-virus outbreak, the sunrise was streamed live in 2020 and 2021.
