Stonehenge has it’s day in the sun
June 21, 2011 is the summer solstice
in the northern hemisphere
Stonehenge celebrates
Today the Sun reaches its northernmost point in planet Earth’s sky. Called a solstice, the date traditionally marks a change of seasons – from spring to summer in Earth’s Northern Hemisphere and from fall to winter in Earth’s Southern Hemisphere. The most famous celebration of the summer solstice takes place at Stonehenge, a megalithic stone monument in south-western England.
Sunrise at Stonehenge – Image © Max Alexander
The above image was taken during the week of the 2008 summer solstice at Stonehenge by Max Alexander, and captures a picturesque sunrise involving fog, trees, clouds, stones placed about 4,500 years ago, and a 5 billion year old large glowing orb. Even given the precession of the Earth’s rotational axis over the millennia, the Sun continues to rise over Stonehenge in an astronomically significant way says NASA.
When was Stonehenge built?
There are various estimates on the age of Stonehenge, between 3100 – 1100 BCE, but most experts settle that it’s age is about 4,500 years. Stonehenge is one of over nine hundred stone circles in the British Isles. The megalithic monuments of Britain and Europe predate those of the eastern Mediterranean, Egyptian, Mycenaean and Greek cultures.
The Druids, an ancient religious cult, lead the celebrations as the sun rises at Stonehenge. The Druids had nothing to do with the construction of the stone rings. Druids are known to have conducted their ritual activities mostly in sacred forest groves.
The first known text that actually describes the druids was Julius Caesar’s Commentarii de Bello Gallico, book VI, which had been published in the 50s or 40s BCE. A military general who was intent on conquering Gaul and Britain, Caesar described the druids as being concerned with “divine worship, the due performance of sacrifices, private or public, and the interpretation of ritual questions.” Caesar also held that they were “administrators” during rituals of human sacrifice, for which criminals were usually used, and that the method was through burning in a wicker man.
The circle was aligned with the midsummer sunrise, the midwinter sunset, and the most southerly rising and northerly setting of the moon. The ground plan and structural engineering of Stonehenge incorporate sophisticated mathematical and geometrical understandings on the part of its builders.
There were two types of stones used in its construction: the ‘bluestones’ (weighing as much as four tons and brought from 240 miles away) and the Sarsen stones (averaging eighteen feet in height and twenty-five tons in weight). It has been estimated that the construction of Stonehenge required more than thirty million hours of labor. The construction of Stonehenge took generations to complete.
An artists impression of what celebrations looked like thousands of years ago
The astronomically significant layout of Stonehenge that NASA spoke of can be seen below.
Dear Sir/Madam – You don’t have permission to use my photograph of Stonehenge. Can you please state what you are going to do about this? Max Alexander
You are credited and please forgive our oversight.