Solstice
noun
Either of the two times in the year when the sun reaches its highest or lowest point in the sky at noon.
The longest day of the year occurs at the summer solstice.
Often appears as...
- summer solstice
- winter solstice
Usage tips
Academic
noun
The time of the year when the day is shortest or longest, marked by the winter or summer solstice respectively.
We will celebrate the solstice with a bonfire.
Often appears as...
- celebrate the solstice
- the solstice occurs
noun
Either of the two times in the year when the sun reaches its highest or lowest point in the sky at noon.
The longest day of the year occurs at the summer solstice.
Often appears as...
- summer solstice
- winter solstice
Usage tips
Academic
noun
The time of the year when the day is shortest or longest, marked by the winter or summer solstice respectively.
We will celebrate the solstice with a bonfire.
Often appears as...
- celebrate the solstice
- the solstice occurs
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Seasonal Events
Solstice marks specific astronomical events, significant in various cultures for seasonal festivals.
Many ancient monuments align with the sun during the solstice.
Pro Tip 2/3Daylight Extremes
Solstices are the reasons behind the longest and shortest daylight hours of the year.
The winter solstice has the fewest daylight hours.
Pro Tip 3/3Cultural Celebrations
Many cultures have holidays and traditions that celebrate the solstices, often with feasts and rituals.
Stonehenge is crowded during the summer solstice, as it's a pivotal celebration for some.
Pro Tip 1/3Seasonal Events
Solstice marks specific astronomical events, significant in various cultures for seasonal festivals.
Many ancient monuments align with the sun during the solstice.
Pro Tip 2/3Daylight Extremes
Solstices are the reasons behind the longest and shortest daylight hours of the year.
The winter solstice has the fewest daylight hours.
Pro Tip 3/3Cultural Celebrations
Many cultures have holidays and traditions that celebrate the solstices, often with feasts and rituals.
Stonehenge is crowded during the summer solstice, as it's a pivotal celebration for some.
Pro Tip 1/3Seasonal Events
Solstice marks specific astronomical events, significant in various cultures for seasonal festivals.
Many ancient monuments align with the sun during the solstice.
Pro Tip 2/3Daylight Extremes
Solstices are the reasons behind the longest and shortest daylight hours of the year.
The winter solstice has the fewest daylight hours.
Pro Tip 3/3Cultural Celebrations
Many cultures have holidays and traditions that celebrate the solstices, often with feasts and rituals.
Stonehenge is crowded during the summer solstice, as it's a pivotal celebration for some.
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Video examples
How simple ideas lead to...
from the town of Swenet, which was south of Alexandria. The letter included this fact that stuck in Eratosthenes' mind, and the fact was that the writer said, at noon on the solstice, when he looked down this deep well, he could see his reflection at the bottom, and he could also see that his head was blocking the sun.
Video examples
When will the next ice...
it wobbles on its axis and its tilt changes, altering the amount of sunlight that strikes different parts of its surface. These wobbles, combined with the planet’s elliptical orbit, cause summer temperatures to vary depending on whether the summer solstice happens when Earth is closer or farther from the sun.
Video examples
Newgrange PIPE National...
builders possessed only rudimentary technologies is particularly important because it's been proven without doubt that it was very deliberately aligned to sunrise at the winter solstice its facade is of white quartz restored by archaeologists who believe the mound was originally covered in a smooth stone
Video examples
Tomb of Newgrange PIPE...
builders possessed only rudimentary technologies is particularly important because it's been proven without doubt that it was very deliberately aligned to sunrise at the winter solstice its facade is a white quartz restored by archaeologists who believe the mound was originally covered in a smooth stone
Video examples
The Sun’s surprising...
This day is known as the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, and the one day where the Sun appears highest in the sky. So the Earth's axial tilt partially explains why the Sun changes positions in the sky and the analemma's length
Video examples
Equinoxes PIPE National...
and along with solstices marked the changing of seasons as earth travels around the Sun astronomers like to describe the equinoxes within the conceptual celestial sphere here the heavens are projected around the earth
Video examples
The building of...
and together those two men installed uhnot Minh in the cupola slant urn this created the world's largest sundial and they were able to recalculate the summer solstice then those astronomical calculations
Video examples
Moshe Safdie: How to...
in real-life projects across Asia. This in Qinhuangdao in middle-income housing, where there is a bylaw that every apartment must receive three hours of sunlight. That's measured in the winter solstice.
Video examples
Destination Ireland PIPE...
their honor dead and perhaps for something more at sunrise on the winter solstice the shortest day of the year a beam of light enters the central chamber what significance this had for
Video examples
The Maya myth of the...
When the turtle Ak Na'ak rose in the sky to mark the summer solstice, Chak Ek’ claimed his fourth victim. With the death of this good omen, the Sun, the food supply, and the people
Video examples
How simple ideas lead to...
from the town of Swenet, which was south of Alexandria. The letter included this fact that stuck in Eratosthenes' mind, and the fact was that the writer said, at noon on the solstice, when he looked down this deep well, he could see his reflection at the bottom, and he could also see that his head was blocking the sun.
Video examples
When will the next ice...
it wobbles on its axis and its tilt changes, altering the amount of sunlight that strikes different parts of its surface. These wobbles, combined with the planet’s elliptical orbit, cause summer temperatures to vary depending on whether the summer solstice happens when Earth is closer or farther from the sun.
Video examples
Newgrange PIPE National...
builders possessed only rudimentary technologies is particularly important because it's been proven without doubt that it was very deliberately aligned to sunrise at the winter solstice its facade is of white quartz restored by archaeologists who believe the mound was originally covered in a smooth stone
Video examples
Tomb of Newgrange PIPE...
builders possessed only rudimentary technologies is particularly important because it's been proven without doubt that it was very deliberately aligned to sunrise at the winter solstice its facade is a white quartz restored by archaeologists who believe the mound was originally covered in a smooth stone
Video examples
The Sun’s surprising...
This day is known as the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, and the one day where the Sun appears highest in the sky. So the Earth's axial tilt partially explains why the Sun changes positions in the sky and the analemma's length
Video examples
Equinoxes PIPE National...
and along with solstices marked the changing of seasons as earth travels around the Sun astronomers like to describe the equinoxes within the conceptual celestial sphere here the heavens are projected around the earth
Video examples
The building of...
and together those two men installed uhnot Minh in the cupola slant urn this created the world's largest sundial and they were able to recalculate the summer solstice then those astronomical calculations
Video examples
Moshe Safdie: How to...
in real-life projects across Asia. This in Qinhuangdao in middle-income housing, where there is a bylaw that every apartment must receive three hours of sunlight. That's measured in the winter solstice.
Video examples
Destination Ireland PIPE...
their honor dead and perhaps for something more at sunrise on the winter solstice the shortest day of the year a beam of light enters the central chamber what significance this had for
Video examples
The Maya myth of the...
When the turtle Ak Na'ak rose in the sky to mark the summer solstice, Chak Ek’ claimed his fourth victim. With the death of this good omen, the Sun, the food supply, and the people
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Gary Zukav
American Author
The winter solstice has always been special to me as a barren darkness that gives birth to a verdant future beyond imagination, a time of pain and withdrawal that produces something joyfully inconceivable, like a monarch butterfly masterfully extracting itself from the confines of its cocoon, bursting forth into unexpected glory.
Quote examples
Gary Zukav
American Author
Each solstice is a domain of experience unto itself. At the Summer Solstice, all is green and growing, potential coming into being, the miracle of manifestation painted large on the canvas of awareness. At the Winter Solstice, the wind is cold, trees are bare and all lies in stillness beneath blankets of snow.
Quote examples
David Icke
English Footballer
The Christian Bible is a symbolic book, not a literal one. The one Christians know as Jesus was actually a symbol for the sun. Ancient sun worshippers believed the sun died at the end of the winter solstice and then three days later it would be reborn at the start of its cycle - December 25.
Quote examples
Diana Gabaldon
American Author
Every time I'd read about the stone circles, it would describe how they worked as an astronomical observance. For example, some of the circles are oriented so that at the winter solstice, the sun will strike a standing stone.
Quote examples
Gary Zukav
American Author
The winter solstice has always been special to me as a barren darkness that gives birth to a verdant future beyond imagination, a time of pain and withdrawal that produces something joyfully inconceivable, like a monarch butterfly masterfully extracting itself from the confines of its cocoon, bursting forth into unexpected glory.
Quote examples
Gary Zukav
American Author
Each solstice is a domain of experience unto itself. At the Summer Solstice, all is green and growing, potential coming into being, the miracle of manifestation painted large on the canvas of awareness. At the Winter Solstice, the wind is cold, trees are bare and all lies in stillness beneath blankets of snow.
Quote examples
David Icke
English Footballer
The Christian Bible is a symbolic book, not a literal one. The one Christians know as Jesus was actually a symbol for the sun. Ancient sun worshippers believed the sun died at the end of the winter solstice and then three days later it would be reborn at the start of its cycle - December 25.
Quote examples
Diana Gabaldon
American Author
Every time I'd read about the stone circles, it would describe how they worked as an astronomical observance. For example, some of the circles are oriented so that at the winter solstice, the sun will strike a standing stone.
Example 1 of 4
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