Many people (wrongly), say that “June 21st is the longest day of the year!”
Oh how they are wrong!
Many people (also wrongly!), say that ‘days’ on Earth are 24 hours long. An actual Earth ‘day’ (the time it takes the Earth to spin once on its axis), is actually (about) 24.0000004037 hours (or 24 hours and 1.45 milliseconds).
The term ‘solstice' (from the Latin: 'solstitium'), means 'sun-stopping'. It happens by the point on the horizon where the sun appears to rise and set, stops and reverses direction after this day. On the solstice, the sun does not rise precisely in the east, but rises to the north of east and sets to the north of west, meaning it's visible in the sky for a longer period of time. Basically – this day has the longest period of ‘day-time’ in the whole of the year. It is also at this point of the year that comments such as “It’s all downhill from here, as the nights will draw in and it’ll soon be Christmas!” (etc.), appear.
Although the June solstice marks the first day of astronomical summer, it is more common to use meteorological definitions of seasons, making the solstice midsummer or midwinter. For people living in the Southern Hemisphere, the June solstice is known as the ‘shortest day(-time)’ of the year, it marking the first day of their astronomical winter, but the middle of their winter in meteorological terms.
In 2017, the Summer Solstice is calendared to be on Wednesday, 21 June 2017, at the rather early time of 05:24 BST. I personally, will be in bed at that time, but thought, why not meet up on the top of Portsdown Hill with some fellow caching chums, take in the early morning view (and maybe have a bite to eat and a cuppa from the rather nice ‘fast food outlet’ that lies about 10 metres north of GZ**), and just check that the Sun is nicely moving across the sky from the north of east, so also hopefully confirming that:
A - we’re not all about to be engulfed as the Sun turns from a Main Sequence Star, in to a Red Giant, and
B – the people at Stonehenge had something to celebrate earlier on this day.
** no purchase of any food or drink from the food outlet is necessary, but personally, I’ll be having a bacon butty with brown sauce, and will also buy anyone who joins me a nice hot cup of coffee / tea / hot chocolate 😊