Look Up

It’s a big astronomical day. Saturday is summer solstice. Summer solstice is the official start of summer in the northern half of the globe. According to the Farmer’s Almanac, this year’s solstice will occur on Saturday on 8:44 p.m. This is when the sun reaches both its highest and most northern points in the sky as well as maximum tilt toward the sun. As a result, we receive the most direct angle of sunlight for the year. (In the southern hemisphere, the sun is at its lowest point in the sky, marking the start of winter.) The word “solstice” comes from Latin solstitium — from sol (sun) and stitium (still or stopped), reflecting the fact that on the solstice, the sun appears to stop “moving” in the sky for the year or so as it appears from our planet. Summer solstice is the longest day of the year, meaning it has the most amount of sunlight. There will be over 15 hours of sunlight on Saturday and Sunday. In addition, since the sun is at it highest point, you might notice that your shadow is the shortest that it will be all year. After the solstice, the sun will appear to reverse course and head back in the opposite direction.

For those on the other side of our planet, they’ll be able to celebrate solstice with an annular solar eclipse. Depending on where they are on the planet will depend which solstice they’ll be celebrating. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to see it but those in parts of Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia will have prime views. Again, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, annular eclipses are very similar to total solar eclipses, but instead of covering the sun completely, the moon only covers most of the sun, leaving a thin, shining ring — called an “annulus” or “ring of fire” as its better known — around the moon’s dark shape. Even though we won’t be able to see it from here, it will be livestreamed on YouTube. It will reach its maximum point of coverage at 5:40 a.m Sunday morning.