The Summer Solstice and Stonehenge

experts from an article by Brad Plumer and Brian Resnick Jun 21, 2017, 8:22am EDT

Just in case you slept through it, summer officially began at 3:24 am PDT this morning (12:24 am EDT)

What does the first day of summer have to do with Stonehenge?

No one really knows why Stonehenge was built some 5,000 years ago (at least I don’t, sorry). But one possibility is that it was used to mark solstices and equinoxes. That’s because during the summer solstice, the sun rises just over the structure’s Heel Stone and hits the Altar Stone dead center.

Here’s a graphic from NASA imagining what a summer solstice sunrise might’ve looked like back when Stonehenge was fully intact:

Nowadays, humans still gather to pay homage to the summer solstice at Stonehenge — they just use modern technology, like so:

Photo by Tim Ireland/Getty Images

The Wikipedia entry on Stonehenge is absurdly detailed, so read up on that if you want more.

Happy Solstice!