Summer solstice: Revellers greet sunrise on longest day of the year

The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

• The sun has risen on the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
• Sunday is the summer solstice, marking the start of astronomical summer north of the equator; it is the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere, where it is the shortest day of the year and astronomical winter will start.
• About 20,000 people flocked to Stonehenge in Wiltshire to watch the sunrise from the ancient monument, which was designed to align with the sun’s paths at the solstices.
• Many people also gathered for sunrise swims at beaches around the UK.
• The word “solstice” comes from the Latin words “sol”, for sun, and “stitium”, which can mean “pause” or “stop”.