The summer solstice is June 20 this year. In the northern hemisphere, the summer solstice occurs when the sun is farthest north in the sky, marking the shortest night and longest day of the year. Each day, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
As the sun arcs across the sky in its daily orbit around the Earth, some flowers, such as the sunflower and heliotrope, track the sun’s movement across the sky. It’s patently obvious that the sun orbits around the Earth, right? So thought Aristotle. After all, Aristotle, a smart guy, saw no evidence that the Earth is in orbit: Throw up a ball and it lands straight down, not behind you; no perpetual wind blows.
Thus, he concluded, the Earth is stationary. This geocentric view of the universe prevailed for almost a thousand years. Not until the 16th century did Copernicus propose a heliocentric universe, later confirmed by Galileo, Kepler and Newton.
Sure, the sun does appear to travel across the sky each day, and even to stand still around midsummer. “Solstice” is based on Latin “sol,” meaning sun, source of solar and solarium, and “sistere,” meaning to stand still, from Proto-Indo-European “sta-,” to stand, be firm. “Sta-" is the source of such steadfast words as constant, obstacle, obstinate, resist, stable and stalwart.
The summer solstice, June 20 in the northern hemisphere this year, occurs when the sun is farthest north in the sky, marking the shortest nights and longest days of the year, the opposit.
