There is a time when one feels that the day is long or if one is excited about anything which is in the next day so automatically, he/she feels that the day is long but that is not the actual meaning of the longest day on the earth.
It is during these days that the darkness is for a shorter period than on other days. The longest day is the day with the longest period of light from the sun for more time. During the longest day, the Sun is at its highest point in the sky.
Summer Solstice History
The summer solstice, which occurs when the Sun is at its most far distance from the equator, is also termed the longest day of the year. This day has been noticed as the summer solstice, also known as the summer’s midline, since the Neolithic era.
Crop cycle dates were affiliated with the summer solstice in Northern and Central European Neolithic traditions. In Celtic, Slavic, and Germanic cultures, people lit bonfires to keep the Sun’s strength up for the duration of the harvest season and to keep the harvest productive.
Many Neolithic stone circles appear to have been built around the movement of the Sun at solstices. However, determining the exact purpose of these rock structures is difficult due to the lack of written accounts from this time period. The stones, on the other hand, appear to be precisely aligned with the Sun’s movements, framing solar motion on the summer and winter solstices.
The sunrise was constructed by placing hammerstones at specific solstice axes centered at the center of the circle. This indicates that the stones were purposefully aligned with the Sun’s movements. Numerous ancient groups considered the summer solstice to be a major cultural occasion, and some modern communities still do.
Summer Solstice Significance
The term “solstice” is derived from the Latin solstitium, which is composed of sol (Sun) and stitium (time) (still or stopped). Since the Earth’s axis is tilted, the Sun rises and sets at different places on the horizon during the day and during the evening. In the course of the year, as Earth circles the Sun, the Sun’s rise and setting positions change.
Besides that, the Sun’s path in the sky changes throughout the year. The June solstice is significant because the Sun reaches its northernmost point in the sky at this time, after which its path remains unchanged for a brief period of time.
Date & time
When the Sun reaches its highest point and is at its northernmost point in the sky during the June solstice (also known as the summer solstice), it is in the Northern Hemisphere. Summer officially begins in the northern hemisphere. (In way of comparison, the June solstice in the Southern Hemisphere is when the Sun is at its lowest point in the sky, marking the start of winter.)
The Sun is going to change tack and return in the opposite direction after the solstice. The noticeable path of the Sun is seen in the sky at the same time each day, for example, at local noon. Over the course of a year, its path forms a flattened figure eight, known as an analemma.
The Sun itself does not move (unless you count its orbit around the Milky Way galaxy), rather, the inclination of Earth’s axis as it orbits the Sun, as well as Earth’s elliptical, as opposed to circular, orbit, is responsible for its changes in position in the sky.
As the June solstice marks the start of astronomical summer on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, summer will officially commence. The solstice is celebrated by many cultures throughout the world.
Some facts about the Summer Solstice
- The longest day does not necessarily mean that all Northern Hemisphere countries will experience early sunrise or late sunset. It all varies on the country’s latitudinal location.
- The brightest day of the year with pleasing sunlight.
- In India, the summer solstice marks the end of a six-month period during which
spiritual growth is the most straightforward.
- Although the summer solstice is the longest day of the year, it does not have the latest sunset or the earliest sunrise.
- The sun’s path across the sky on the summer solstice is curved rather than straight.
