What is the solstice?
A simplified view of the solar system says that the Earth revoles around the Sun, spinning on its axis with the equator pointing towards the Sun. This is why the equatorial regions are hotter than the polar ones – they are pointing directly at the sun. The reality is somewhat more complex.The earth’s rotational axis is actually tilted slightly. This means that as the Earth orbits the Sun, the nearest point actually shifts back and forwards slightly. This is what produces the varying length of the day during the year. The apparent position of the Sun in the sky thus changes throughout the year. As seen from the Earth it appears that the noon position of the Sun moves back and forwards across the equator. It’s a little as if the Sun were a pendulum swinging in the sky, taking a whole year to swing one way and back the other. At the extreme points of its apparent motion, the Sun – like a pendulum – “stops” and changes direction. These points are the solstices. They mark the extremes of th
The solstice occurs in two moments during the year when the sun’s apparent path is farthest north or south from the Earth’s equator In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice occurs on June 21 or 22, and the winter solstice on Dec. 21 or 22. At the winter solstice, the day is the year’s shortest, and at the summer solstice, it is the year’s longest. The term solstice also is used in reference to either of the two points of greatest deviation of the ecliptic (the sun’s apparent annual path) from the celestial equator. For the enchanting evening of eclectic tales, everyone was eager to listen. Edgecomb is not partial to the individual components that add the mystic to the midsummer. “My favorite one is the one I’m telling right then … It has to be that way,” she said.
