The images show the summer of 2024 at Stonehenge.

gave Summer solutions Thursday marks the end of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and the start of a brand new season, which promises warmer temperatures and more sunshine. To mark the transition to summer 2024, the astronomical event serves as a kind of grand opening: everywhere above the equator, it will be the longest day of the year.

At Stonehenge, a prehistoric monument of massive stones that is now a protected heritage site in southern England, historians believe that the ancients built one of many Saracen stones with the specific intention of honoring and celebrating the solstice. A formal circular structure was created.

Mysteriously constructed around 2,500 BC, Stonehenge is thought to be some kind of spiritual or ceremonial site, although why people thought of building it, and what they might have used it for, is unclear. , its real reasons are still unknown. The stones were picked up and carefully arranged during the late Neolithic or Stone Age—a time when building such a monument would have been a feat of modern construction and engineering.

To a person standing in the middle of Stonehenge, the stone frames are arranged so that, with precision, sunrise and sunset occur on the summer solstice. Winter solstice. Thousands of people visit the site each year on both solstices to witness the event for themselves.

Just days before this year's summer solstice, climate protesters Sprayed Stonehenge with orange paint. To make a statement against fossil fuels. English Heritage, the organization that manages the Stonehenge site, told CBS News that the incident was “extremely disturbing and our curators are investigating the extent of the damage,” but the monument remained open to the public.

What is the summer solstice?

While the solstice technically marks the beginning of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, its reverse, the winter solstice, simultaneously marks the beginning of winter throughout the Southern Hemisphere.

This is when the Earth, which is tilted 23.5 degrees on its axis, reaches the maximum point where the planet's northern half has been facing the Sun since the last summer solstice. Because the Earth is constantly rotating on its axis and orbiting the Sun at the same time, this tilt allows each hemisphere to be bathed in only one day's worth of sunlight per year at its longest. .

Earth has seasons because of its 23.5 degree tilt. As the planet rotates and travels along its orbital path. About 365 days, the Earth's oblique axis means the angle at which different parts of its surface face the Sun's rotation throughout the year. During the Northern Hemisphere's summer solstice, which usually falls on June 20 or June 21 — it's June 20 this year — those cosmic mechanics push the top of the planet toward the Sun. At the North Pole, six months of daylight begin, while at the South Pole, this means six months of darkness instead.

The situation reverses six months later, when Earth reaches a point in its orbit where its axis points backwards so that the South Pole is closer to the Sun. This day, usually December 21 or 22, marks the shortest daylight hours of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, while summer begins in the Southern Hemisphere.

Crowds gather at Stonehenge in December to also celebrate the winter solstice.

Why is June 20, 2024 the longest day?

The North Pole is never as tilted towards the Sun as it is in summer. This apparent tilt exposes a greater portion of the Northern Hemisphere to sunlight at one time than at any other point in Earth's revolution. From the perspective of a person on Earth, this exposure creates the longest period of daylight in the entire 24 hours of the year.

This year, the North Pole reaches its most extreme tilt on June 20 at 4:51 p.m. EDT, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Sun is then directly above the Tropic of Cancer, a longitudinal line wrapping horizontally around the Earth's circumference 23.5 degrees above the equator. This line passes through Mexico, Bahamas, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India and South China.

At the other end of the cycle, when the North Pole is tilted as far away from the Sun as possible, the portion of the Northern Hemisphere that sunlight can reach is smaller. This is why winter solstice is the shortest day of the year for people above the equator and the longest day of the year for people below.

How the summer solstice has been celebrated throughout history.

The summer solstice is an occasion that civilizations have observed and celebrated for centuries. Historians believe that the Neolithic people who built Stonehenge were part of a broader ancient culture in northern and central Europe that experts say appears to have recognized the solstices and changing seasons because they is related to agriculture and possibly the timing of crop cycles.

The British non-profit National Trust writes in an overview of ancient solstice traditions that the event was “commonly marked by Celtic, Slavic and Germanic peoples with bonfires, intended to protect the sun for the remainder of the harvest season. According to the organization, other stone circles that look somewhat like Stonehenge are designed with the solstices in mind.

These days, people mark the solstice with their own traditional ceremonies from ancient times. Festivals and bonfires are common in communities around the world. But there are countless ways in which modern people recognize the Earth's seasonal movements. Depending on where it takes place, the summer solstice celebration in Fairbanks, Alaska can look like a baseball game at midnight or all day. A mass yoga gathering In Times Square