Solstice brings longest day, strange traditions

A dancer twirls her dress in a summer solstice 2000 parade in Seattle over the weekend

June 20, 2000
Web posted at: 4:28 p.m. EDT (2028 GMT)

In this story: Basking in midsummer sun Strawberry moons of June RELATED STORIES, SITES

By Richard Stenger
CNN.com Writer

(CNN) -- A scientifically precise event that happens once every six months, the solstice has inspired mysterious celebrations and been blamed for irrational conduct for centuries.

The summer solstice arrives Tuesday when the sun reaches its farthest point north of the equator. It marks the longest day of the year and the beginning of summer for the Northern Hemisphere. The event produces the opposite effect in the southern half of the planet: the shortest day of the year and the onset of winter.

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The annual changing of the seasons bathes the Arctic in sunlight and plunges much of the Antarctic in darkness for months. But southerners take heart. After the solstice occurs at 9:48 p.m. EDT, the sun begins a march south, concluding six months later with another solstice in which the seasons reverse themselves.

The North Pole tilts slightly more than 23 degrees toward the sun on the day of the solstice. The vertical noon rays are directly over the Tropic of Cancer. In late December the conditions reverse, with the South Pole tilting toward the sun and the solar rays shining over the Tropic of Capricorn.

Civilizations have celebrated summer solstices since ancient times. The Romans honored Fors Fortuna, the goddess of fortune. The Druids assembled at Stonehenge, a mysterious prehistoric arrangement of mammoth stone slabs in England.

The circle of megaliths is arranged to capture the light of the summer solstice sunrise, much like a temple the Incas built centuries ago in Peru.

Legend holds that the summer solstice, also known as midsummer, prods humans to engage in strange behavior. The myth inspired Shakespeare in his "A Midsummer Night's Dream," a romantic, nonsensical comedy that took place on the summer solstice.

While summer has only begun, sky watchers can observe the first astronomical sign of autumn Wednesday morning before dawn. Fomalhaut, the Autumn Star, will shine well below the waning moon.

The moon appeared unusually bright and colorful when it was full four days. Known as rose or strawberry moons, full moons in June often put on such displays.

They follow the lowest path across the sky of all full moons. And moons seen just above the horizon look much larger than normal because of an optical illusion.

Such moons can look more colorful for the same reason that sunsets appear red. The low-hanging moon often takes on a pink or orange hue as a result of scattered moonlight in the atmosphere.

Information from NASA and Sky & Telescope magazine was used in this report.

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