An interesting post and image on facebook this evening from Kerry Bell to celebrate the Summer Solstice
Tonight the sun sets here at the northernmost spot of these Apuan Alps. It then makes its way south past Monte Forato to its southernmost spot on December 21, and then, back again. Like clockwork.
Just to remind ourselves, a short video and a couple of images which arrived from Giacomo Clerici in the barganews office this week of the last winter in Barga.
Something to look forward to.
The summer solstice (or estival solstice), also known as midsummer, occurs when one of the Earth’s poles is tilted the farthest toward the Sun.
It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern and Southern). For that hemisphere, the summer solstice is when the Sun reaches its highest position in the sky and is the day with the longest period of daylight. At the pole, there is continuous daylight around the summer solstice. On the summer solstice, Earth’s maximum axial tilt toward the Sun is 23.44°. Likewise, the Sun’s declination from the celestial equator is 23.44°.
The summer solstice occurs during the hemisphere’s summer. This is the June solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the December solstice in the Southern Hemisphere. Depending on the shift of the calendar, the summer solstice occurs sometime between June 20 and June 22 in the Northern Hemisphere and between December 20 and December 23 in the Southern Hemisphere.
The same dates in the opposite hemisphere are referred to as the winter solstice.
Since prehistory, the summer solstice has been seen as a significant time of year in many cultures, and has been marked by festivals and rituals. Traditionally, in many temperate regions (especially Europe), the summer solstice is seen as the middle of summer and referred to as “midsummer”. Today, however, in some countries and calendars it is seen as the beginning of summer.