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Western Massachusetts enjoys year's longest day with Sunwheel event
AMHERST, Mass. (WWLP) – Friday, June 20th, is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year.
At 10:43 p.m. on Friday, the sun will reach its northernmost position relative to the stars as seen from Earth, which marks the astronomical start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere, according to UMass Amherst. There will be 15 hours and 16 minutes of daylight in western Massachusetts on Friday.
During the solstice, daylight is longest and nighttime is shortest in the Northern Hemisphere. The sun also reaches its highest point all year at local noon for everyone living north of the tropics. The sun then passes straight overhead, on this day only, for people living along the Tropic of Cancer.
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The UMass Amherst Sunwheel event celebrates the solstice annually with educational programming, and people gathered Friday morning and later in the evening to witness the sun rise and fall in exact alignment with the two largest standing stones here. Sunwheel visitors who come on their own will be able to see the sun rising and setting over the stones from roughly June 15th through the 25th. Experts are helping people understand the phenomena and how the stones track our favorite star.
WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on
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