HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE!!! (2013)

HAPPY

SUMMER SOLSTICE

TO ALL!!!

The 2013 June or summer solstice takes place on Friday, June 21st, 2013 at 5:04 Universal Time (12:04 a.m. CDT). This solstice – which marks the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere – marks the sun’s most northerly point in Earth’s sky. It’s an event celebrated by people throughout the ages.

It’s that beautiful time of year again in the Northern Hemisphere…when the June solstice – your signal to celebrate summer!!! This solstice marks the longest day of the year. Early dawns. Long days. Late sunsets. Short nights. The sun at its height each day…as it crosses the sky. Meanwhile…south of the equator…winter has begun.

What is a solstice?
Ancient cultures knew that the sun’s path across the sky…the length of daylight…& the location of the sunrise & sunset all shifted in a regular way throughout the year. They built monuments…such as Stonehenge…to follow the sun’s yearly progress. Today…we know that the solstice is an astronomical event…caused by Earth’s tilt on its axis & its motion in orbit around the sun.

Because Earth does not orbit upright. Instead…our world is tilted on its axis by 23-&-a-half degrees…Earth’s Northern & Southern Hemispheres trade places in receiving the sun’s light & warmth most directly.

At the June solstice…Earth is positioned in its orbit so that our world’s North Pole is leaning most toward the sun. As seen from Earth…the sun is directly overhead at noon 23.5 degrees north of the equator…at an imaginary line encircling the globe known as the Tropic of Cancer – named after the Constellation Cancer the Crab. This is as far north as the sun ever gets.

All locations north of the equator have days longer than 12 hours at the June solstice. Meanwhile…all locations south of the equator have days shorter than 12 hours.

Day & night sides of Earth at instant of June 2013 solstice (June 21st, 2013 at 5:04 Universal Time)