Der Längste Tag

Today - Saturday, June 20 - the sun will reach its northernmost declination for the year, resulting in the longest daylight hours of the year for the Northern Hemisphere and the shortest daylight hours of the year for the Southern Hemisphere.   

This event heralds the astronomical beginning of the summer season in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere.  On this day there will be sufficient daylight to putter in your garden, cut the grass, plow a field or read a book.     

The cause of all of this daylight is a consequence of the Northern Hemisphere dipping toward the sun allowing our northern half of Mother Earth to bathe in direct sunlight for longer than any other day of the year.  Our friendly neighbors to the north (including our countrymen living in Alaska) are going to enjoy anywhere from sixteen to twenty-four hours of sunlight.           

The solstice occurs because Earth does not spin upright, but leans 23.5 degrees on a tilted axis.  Astronomers have long wondered if our Neolithic ancestors constructed the monuments at Stonehenge to mark events like today.  Or maybe - as the scientists contend - the tilting of the sun contributed to creating the conditions for life here on our Third Rock from the sun.   

As for me - I'm going to sit on my porch and enjoy a Merlot with the girls in my life.  Ponder that.      

Learn more about the June Solstice here.