Welcome to the Summer Solstice

Literally meaning "sun-stop", this is the day when the sun attains its furthest northern sunrise & sunset in the northern hemisphere and is close to the longest amount of daylight as well in the northern hemisphere.  Due to other orbital peculiarities, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset do not correspond on the summer solstice, but they are very close.  The data for Tuesday, June 21, 2011 for Harrisburg, PA is as follows:

Sunrise:  5:38 am  (Twilight begins:  5:05 am)  Azimuth:  58.1 degrees E of N
Sunset:  8:41 pm  (Twilight ends:  9:14 pm)  Azimuth:  302.0 degrees E of N
Transit or "Local noon":  1:09 pm  at an altitude of 73.3 degrees above the southern horizon.  (Please note that the sun IS NOT directly overhead on the solstice.  This is a major misconception amongst most people that even think about this sort of thing....)

The graphic below shows the path of the sun at our latitude....~15 hours old sol will spend above our horizon!

I was actually in Fairbanks, AK in 1986 for the summer solstice; it was an awesome experience!  Below is a graphic showing the sun's path not only for the solstice but for the entire year.  Sure, Fairbanks at 63 N Latitude has a long solstice day in the summer, but 6 months later that day shortens dramatically.  Just like it never really got dark in Fairbanks at the summer solstice they say it never really gets too light during the winter solstice.  In terms of daylight, we blew out both headlights and the windshield when driving north to AK as less than 50% of the Alaskan Highway was paved at the time of our drive.  We did not replace the headlights until we got south to Anchorage when darkness did come at about 11:00 pm or so.  When we were there in 1986, temps actually achieved the mid 80s on the solstice which is quite warm for AK, but that lasted one day as temps quickly returned to the 60s and 70s in the interior and closer to the 40s and 50s down in the Yukon and along the BC coast and SE Alaska. 

There are numerous places where I'd like to visit during the summer solstice.  Any place at or north of the Arctic Circle on the summer solstice would have the observer actually see the sun approach the northern horizon but not plunge below!  Now that would be a sight to see! 

As would the party that takes place at Stonehenge on the plains of Salisbury in central England!

Enjoy the youtube video showing the summer solstice experience at Stonehenge:

Enjoy your Summer Solstice and make summer solstice 2011 a memorable one for you and your family!

Smitty

AA:  The summer solstice will occur at 1:16 pm EDT marking the 1st day of summer.