Scotland, East Lothian, sunrise over barley field

The solstice occurs twice a year; once in the summer and once in the winter.

Summer solstice occurs every June 21, when the sun is directly above the Tropic of Cancer, and the winter solstice occurs every December 21 when the sun is directly above the Tropic of Capricorn.

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The Summer solstice will occur next Wednesday, June 21, and each year the summer solstice marks the longest day of the year; the day with the most hours of sunlight.

Stonehenge is a popular place to enjoy the summer solstice (Picture: Getty Images)

You can expect the sun to rise in the UK on Wednesday at 4:43 am, so make sure you have those curtains drawn.

Sunset will be at 9:21 pm which means there will be a total of 16 hours and 38 minutes of sunlight during this year’s summer solstice, the sun will be highest in the sky at 1:02 pm.


So drag out your sunglasses, but you can go easy on the sun-cream as there is no connection between the summer solstice and the hottest day of the year, which is subject to change and environmental conditions.

During the winter solstice on December 21, 2016 the sun rose at 8:03am, and set at 15:53 which gave us a total of 7 hours and 49 mins of daylight.

In the lead up to the summer solstice we gain minutes of daylight each day and directly after the solstice we begin losing seconds and then minutes of daylight until the winter solstice and the pattern reverses.

Sunrise on the summer solstice at Rujum el-Hiri (Pitcure: Getty Images)

Our friends down under will be experiencing their winter solstice next Wednesday as it is the shortest day of their year, in the southern hemisphere they are experiencing their winter season.

The sun will be directly over the Tropic of Cancer on Wednesday at 5:24am, which is the furthest point north the sun will ever reach, as seen from the Earth.

In the winter when we experience the opposite solstice the sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn which is the most southernly point the sun will ever reach in the sky, then reverses its direction and starts moving south again.

Solstice comes from two Latin words – sol, meaning Sun and sistere, meaning to come to a stop or stand still, translating to ‘sun standing still.’

The exact instant of time the Sun is directly above the Tropic of Cancer happens the same time all over the world, it will happen at 4:24 am UTC on Wednesday, which is 5:24 am in the UK.


Astronomers and scientists will use the Summer Solstice to mark the first day of summer, however for meteorologists summer begins on June 1.

Midsummer celebrations (Picture: Getty Images)

It is common in the Northern hemisphere for people to consider the summer solstice as the mid-point of the season and many European midsummer celebrations are on or around June 21.

Although June 21 is the longest day of the year, it is not the day of the earliest sunrise, in fact this week leading up to the solstice will have an early sunrise, by one minute than the day of the solstice itself.

The earliest sunset, by contrast is not on the day of the winter solstice itself but in the week leading up to the winter solstice.

You may find yourself jealous of those who are inside the Arctic Circle, which includes northern parts of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, as they can party all day with no sign of night as the region will experience a period of 24 hours of sunlight.

On the flip side those inside the Antarctic circle, which includes just Antarctica, will experience a 24 hour night during the June solstice.

Stonehenge Sunset just after the winter solstice.

The summer solstice is often associated with change, nature and new beginnings, as the days start getting shorter and the nights longer.

Stonehenge, a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, is used by historians to try to explain that ancient humans used the June solstice to mark and align their calendar.


Theories suggest that the builders of Stonehenge used the solstice as a starting-point to count the days of the year.

Newgrange Passage Tombs, Boyne Valley, County Meath, Ireland (Picture: Hoberman Collection/UIG via Getty Images)

Newgrange, an ancient passage tomb in Ireland, believed to be built 1,000 years before Stonehenge, attracts thousand to its winter solstice event.

The creators of Newgrange built a small roof-box which allows the sunlight on the morning of the winter solstice to shine through along the passage and alight the whole room to mark coming through the longest night of the year.

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