first day of summer

The summer solstice is the result of the north-south axis of the Earth is tilted 23.5 ° tilt of the sun causes different amounts of sunlight reaching different regions of the planet.Today, the North Pole is closer to the Sun than any other day of 2010 has been rearranged. The opposite is true in the southern hemisphere, which is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.As a result, a high noon on the first day of summer, the sun is the highest point in the sky directly above most of the situation in the northern hemisphere.This does not mean the sun is overhead at noon for everyone, "said James Bell, an astronomer at Cornell University in New York.This depends on the latitude of the telescope, the sun is overhead at noon on the Tropic of Cancer. "This is still at a low angle, you're in Alaska," said Bell.

No matter where you are in the northern hemisphere, the way the sun in the sky, which rises in the run up to the first day of summer, will begin descending on the rest of summer does not seem to change a few days before and after the summer solstice.In reality, the Sun the situation remains unchanged, but at a slower pace.During the summer solstice is often recognized and celebrated in many cultures throughout the world, both past and present.The ancient Egyptians, for example, the construction of the Great Pyramid so that the solstice sunset, for the Sphinx, exactly between the two pyramids.The Incas in South America during the summer solstice celebrated in a ceremony called Inti Rayman, the food supply of animals and even humans. (See the photo of the Inca Summer Solstice Festival.)And perhaps the most famous is Stonehenge in the UK associated with winter and summer solstice about 5000 years ago.