Why is everyone celebrating the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge on the wrong day?
Today is Tuesday 21st June 2011. According to Wikipedia, the summer solstice occured today at 17:16 UTC. That's basically 17:16 GMT which is 18:16 BST, the time currently used at Stonehenge.
Why do people go to Stonehenge to celebrate the summer solstice? Well, they go there to see the sun rise at its most northerly position of the year. And here's the thing: sunrise tomorrow morning at 04:43 BST (according to this website) is 10 hours 27 minutes after the astronomical time of the solstice, which is actually closer to the solstice than today's sunrise which also occured at 04:43 some 13 hours 33 minutes before the exact time of the solstice. That means that the sun will rise tomorrow slightly further north tomorrow than it did today! Then on Thursday it will start to recede.
So who decides which day to celebrate? I'm going to find out ...
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I've just sent this email to English Heritage to find out what the suss is. I'm sure they'll come back to me within the hour and arrange another celebration for tomorrow morning. Do you think they should contact everyone who turned up this morning or will they rely on just the media for that?
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Why have you chosen to celebrate the summer solstice at Stonehenge on the wrong day this year?
The exact time of the solstice is 18:16 (BST) on 21/06/11, which means that when the sun rises at 04:43 tomorrow (22nd), it will be in a more northernly position over Stonehenge than it rose today.
The ancient Britons wouldn't have had astronomical models to tell them when the longest day would be, they would have had to see which day the sun rises in the most northernly position. This year that's on the 22nd, not the 21st.
Surely Stonehenge should be celebrating the most northerly rising of the sun of the year rather than the rising of the sun on the scientifically computed day when the solstice occurs.
So who makes the decision on which day to hold the celebration, and why did you choose this morning rather than tomorrow morning?
Could you also tell me which day you will choose to celebrate sunrise at Stonehenge on years when the solstice occurs after midnight GMT, but before midnight BST?
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