Monday 17th to Sunday 23rd June 2024
Believe it or not, it is actually summer at the moment! On Monday 17th we have the earliest sunrise of the year, officially at 4.42am in London. From here in the south west, it actually occurs about ten minutes later because we live at a more-westerly longitude.
Confusingly, the Summer Solstice, when the Sun reaches its most northerly point in the sky, takes place on Thursday 20th. The Earth's axis is tilted approximately 23.5 degrees and on 20th June, that angle makes the northern hemisphere point more towards the Sun. At midday, the Sun will be directly over the latitude line known as the Tropic of Cancer.
Six months later, the opposite happens and the northern hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun......or in other words we have the winter solstice.
A picture is worth a thousand words, so I have provided a diagram to help explain it, courtesy of NBC News.
Stonehenge was built to align with the Sun on the solstices and every year, many people make a pilgrimage to the historic site. English Heritage are allowing free access to Stonehenge between 7pm on the Thursday evening and 8am on the Friday morning. You have to visit their website and pre-book because parking is very limited and although access to the site is free, there is a parking charge per vehicle. For those that can't make it, there will also be a livestream of the event on the English Heritage website.
www.starsoversomerset.com
Screenshots courtesy of Stellarium
Stonehenge image courtesy of English Heritage
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