Today is the summer solstice and the official first day of the season for those of us in the northern hemisphere. This year, the full moon known as the strawberry moon or honeymoon lands on the longest day of the year. The events last shared the same date in 1948.
What is so special about this day, and this moon?
Today the sun passes across the sky at its highest point. Likewise the moon crosses the sky at its lowest point creating a seemingly larger moon than the usual full moon. Because the summer air is humid and thick, the June moon can look like it has a yellow hue or halo around its perimeter, and possibly the reason for the name honeymoon.
The name strawberry moon comes from the Algonquin tribe, because the June full moon signaled that it was time to harvest the ripe berries in the Great Lakes and Canadian region where they lived.
Tonight the Farmer’s Almanac will be broadcasting a live high-powered telescope viewing of the moon. See that here, or just read some amazing facts about the special phases of the sun and moon http://www.almanac.com/blog/astronomy/astronomy/summer-solstice-full-moon-june.
Now head outside and enjoy the long days and warm weather while it lasts, there are only 184 days until winter!
In the teensy purse Moleskine balanced upon my knee....
And today, my studio chickens are a year old! Now that all my baby plants are past infancy, they are free to range in the backyard once again - much to their delight. They follow me around in hopes that I will turn over larger stones or bricks so that they can dispatch any creepy crawlies underneath.
I hope you enjoyed your longest day this year...
Happy Solstice! Happy Summer!
Exercise your art chops!
Summer Solstice! What could be better after a full day’s work (or surfing), or sight-seeing around San Diego, than hunkering down, and drawing pictures with other passionate story-tellers?
We’ll work on hand-on drawing-and-sharing, in class, in person. Examine the latest picture books, plus a few timeless classics. And address aspects of the current children’s book market.
Join us!
Class: Children’s Book Illustration – ART-40011
Dates: June 26 – August 21 (9 meetings)
Day: Wednesdays
Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm
Location: Extension, Room 128
Required books:
Don’t delay, sign up today!
You may purchase textbooks via the UCSD Bookstore.
extension.ucsd.edu. Register now. Ask about ART 40011
Fee: $250 / $275 after 6/10/13
The longest day of the year, the first day of summer, has arrived. Ah, sit back and relax, starting tomorrow the days begin to get shorter and school is here before we know it. Of course, the longest day is not more than 24 hours, but it gives us in the Northern Hemisphere the sun for the longest period of time. 
It appears to us Earthlings at its most northern point. At the North Pole, nearly the entire day is bathed in sunlight. Some years ago my youngest brother pitched summer baseball with the North Pole Nicks in North Pole, Alaska. The big game was on the Summer Solstice and played at midnight without lights! You can guess what the shortest day of the year brings the folks up north–darkness.
See NASA’s Solstice Animation –what the Earth would look like on the Summer Solstice if you were standing on the Sun!
The spin axis of our planet is tilted 23.5 degrees with respect to Earth’s orbit around the Sun. The northern summer solstice is an instant in time when the north pole of the Earth points more directly toward the Sun than at any other time of the year. It marks the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere and winter in the southern hemisphere.
A few children’s titles come up with a keyword search, summer solstice, at the San Francisco Public Library: The Summer Solstice by Ellen Jackson, The Longest Day by Wendy Pfeffer, Mermaid Dance by Marjorie Rose Hakala, and Mermaids on Parade by Melanie Hope Greenberg.
Visit StarDate Online from the University of Texas at Austin MacDonald Observatory to get the latest Summer Solstice news for 2012. Enjoy your summer! SSPP Reads will post around the Fourth of July.
Reposted from June 2011.
Graphic from Flickr Creative Commons License by rupjones
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