Illumination of Earth by Sun at the northern solstice.
The solstice is at 23:59 UTC June 20, or 7:59 Eastern Daylight Time, my local time. Barring thunderstorm, I’ll be sitting with friends in Prospect Park waiting for the opera to begin.
Solstice (The Sun stands still), December 22, 2007
Solstice, Wikipedia
Illumination of Earth by Sun at the southern solstice.
It’s the longest night and shortest day of the year for my half of the world. This season’s Solstice (Winter in the Northern hemisphere, Summer in the Southern), is at 6:08 UTC on December 22, 2007. That’s 1:08 Eastern Time, my time zone. For folks on the West coast of North America, it will occur late Friday, December 21, at 22:08. That’s right now.
Etymology: Latin solstitium (sol “sun” + stitium, from sistere “to stand still”)