Summer solstice brings opportunity to see unusual 'electric blue clouds'

Brian Lada, AccuWeather•June 17, 2020

The longest day of 2020 is about to unfold for the Northern Hemisphere, and after the sun finally sets, skywatchers in certain areas of the globe could spot a type of cloud that goes undetected throughout the rest of the year.

The summer solstice occurs every year between June 20 and June 22 in the Northern Hemisphere when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer. As the Earth orbits around the sun on its axis, the most direct rays from the sun migrate southward, eventually reaching the Tropic of Capricorn on the winter solstice between Dec. 20 and Dec. 22.

For the Southern Hemisphere, the opposite is true with the June solstice marking the start of winter and the December solstice marking the start of summer.

The changing of the seasons will officially occur on Saturday, June 20, at 5:43 p.m. EDT. This will also be the longest season of the year, lasting 93 days, 15 hours and 46 minutes, according to timeanddate.com.

Not only does the summer solstice feature the longest day of the year, but it also brings the opportunity to see a weather phenomenon high in Earth's atmosphere.

Noctilucent clouds, sometimes called "electric blue clouds" due to their color, are a type of cloud that is only visible to the naked eye a few weeks out of the year right around the summer solstice when the weather conditions and the sun angle are just right.

"These clouds form much higher than typical clouds. They form around 50 miles above the Earth's surface, nearly all other clouds form in the lowest 10 miles of the atmosphere," AccuWeather astronomy blogger Dave Samuhel said.

June and July offer the best opportunities to spot these high-altitude clouds in the Northern Hemisphere, while in the Southern Hemisphere, onlookers should keep an eye out for them in December and January.

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There is a catch for people trying to spot these shimmering clouds in the weeks surrounding the summer solstice - they are only visible in areas between 45 and 60 degrees latitude, according to EarthSky.

This includes areas in and around cities such as London, Paris, Berlin, Calgary, Montreal, Minneapolis and Seattle.

Some planning is also required to spot the elusive clouds as they can be seen only about one to two hours after sunset in the western sky and about one to two hours before sunrise in the eastern sky.

Noctilucent clouds are a part of Earth's atmosphere, but they have otherworldly origins.

"These clouds actually form around particles left behind by meteors," Samuhel said. "Super cold water droplets freeze on the meteor debris and form ice. These clouds are made purely of ice."

A similar phenomenon can happen when a rocket launch takes place just before daybreak or shortly after sunset.

On Saturday, June 13, 2020, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, before sunrise. As the rocket ascended through the atmosphere, it eventually reached sunlight which illumined its trail of exhaust to create a spectacular display.


SpaceX's predawn Starlink satellite launch looks simply stunning in these Twitter photos https://t.co/274J76kVp9 pic.twitter.com/kUVbd7qlrn

— SPACE.com (@SPACEdotcom) June 14, 2020

Although the first night of summer may be the shortest of the year, it may still make for a good night of stargazing as onlookers will enjoy mild conditions and a moonless night.

Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.

Electric blue clouds dazzle the night sky recently

By Staff,

WEATHER BLOGS Updated Jun. 14, 2019 

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Incredible shot of noctilucent clouds June 9th over Medford, Oregon. Image credit: Marc Spilde.

Every summer, northern latitudes are treated to an interesting phenomenon, noctilucent clouds. These clouds, also referred to as electric blue clouds have been unusually widespread so far this spring.

These clouds form much higher than typical clouds. The form around 50 miles above the Earth's surface, nearly all other clouds form in the lowest 10 miles of the atmosphere! They have been spotted much farther south than usual.

Incredible shot of noctilucent clouds June 9th over Medford, Oregon. Image credit: Marc Spilde.

These clouds actually form around particles left behind by meteors! Super cold water droplets freeze on the meteor debris and form ice. These clouds are made purely of ice. Read more about how these clouds form.

The best time to see these clouds are about one hour after sunset. Look in the western sky, you can also look for them in the eastern sky in the hour before sunrise. The moon will becomes full this weekend, but it should not affect viewing of any noctilucent clouds.

If you want to see more pictures of the electric blue clouds, the Spaceweather.com Realtime NLC Gallery is a must see!

Summer Solstice 2020: Best photos as Pagans celebrate the longest day of the year

Chelsea Ritschel The Independent Jun 20, 2020, 8:00 AM



The summer solstice is almost here, which means people in the northern hemisphere will soon enjoy the longest day of the year.

This year, the summer solstice, which Google is celebrating with a Doodle, takes place on Saturday 20 June, at which point the sun will reach its highest altitude.

In addition to marking the beginning of summer, the solstice also brings people out to enjoy the warm weather and celebrate the day.

For some, the arrival of the summer solstice is a time to celebrate the yearly journey through the seasons, while those who follow paganism consider the day a sacred holiday.

From gatherings at Stonehenge to bonfires and festivals, these are photos of past summer solstice celebrations.

https://sports.yahoo.com/summer-solstice-2019-best-pictures-172813362.html

STONEHENGE IS CLOSED FOR THE PANDEMIC UNTIL JULY

SACRED SOLSTICE

SOLAR ECLIPSE 2020: RARE SUMMER SOLSTICE 'RING OF FIRE' TAKES PLACE THIS WEEK
Annular eclipse coinciding with longest day of the year will not happen again until 2039

Anthony Cuthbertson@ADCuthbertson 6/18/2020

A rare type of solar eclipse will coincide with the longest day of the year this week, marking only the second time since 1982 that these astronomical events take place on the same day.

The annular solar eclipse will see the Sun, Moon and Earth align on Sunday, 21 June, creating a spectacular effect for sky gazers to witness across large parts of the world.

The Moon is at its furthest stage of its orbit around the Earth, known as its apogee, meaning it appears slightly smaller in the sky.

This means it is not able to completely block out the Sun, thus creating what some astronomers refer to as a "ring of fire".

At its maximum point of total eclipse, the Moon will block approximately 99.4 per cent of the Sun, though this will only last for a fraction of a second.
Read more

SpaceX is building Mars spaceports, Elon Musk reveals

Nasa has mapped the trajectory of the annular solar eclipse, which sees its path pass over the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Yemen, Oman, Pakistan, India, Nepal, China, Taiwan and Guam.


The eclipse will not be visible for people in the southern hemisphere, nor in more northerly latitudes like the UK.
The path of the annular solar eclipse on 21 June, 2020 (Nasa/ Google Maps)

It will also be impossible to view from North America, while travel restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic mean that people will be unable to fly to locations where it will be visible.


For those unable to see it in person, Timeanddate.com will be hosting a live stream of the eclipse on its website.

Solar eclipse 2017
Show all 12





The eclipse occurs on the day that the Sun is at its most northerly point during the year, known as the Summer Solstice in the northern hemisphere and the Winter Solstice in the southern hemisphere.

For those north of the equator, the solstice is the longest day of the year and is often celebrated by watching sunrise or sunset.

In the UK, the sun will rise at 4.43am and set at 9.22pm, meaning people will enjoy 16 hours and 39 minutes of daylight.

More northerly latitudes will experience 24 hours of daylight, including regions of Canada, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia.

It is the first time since 2001 that the solstice coincides with a solar eclipse, and will not happen again until 2039.

Sunday’s “Ring Of Fire” Solar Eclipse Brings Positive Change


Elizabeth Gulino June 19, 2020, REFINERY29


This weekend, we’ll be experiencing quite the astrological event. Not only is the summer solstice occurring, but we’ll also be undergoing the new moon solar eclipse on June 21 at exactly 12:47 a.m. ET. It won’t be a total eclipse, though: There will still be some surface area of the sun peaking out from behind the moon, creating a stunning “ring of fire” effect.

“Solar eclipses are extra powerful lunar events, rallying the energy of three new moons in one,” Narayana Montúfar, senior astrologer at Astrology.com and Horoscope.com, tells Refinery29. “This one, in particular, is even more important because it happens the same day as the summer solstice and the day the sun enters Cancer.” Montúfar says that this solar eclipse is a turning point in human history, poised to accelerate social change. This particular eclipse is happening at zero degrees Cancer, meaning it will bring emotional needs to the surface.

Montúfar says that at this eclipse, both the sun and the moon will be forming a tense quincunx aspect to task-master Saturn in Aquarius. “At its worst, Saturn represents the rules and limitations that have been imposed on us and that over time have turned corrupt and oppressive,” she explains. “Although Cancer is a sign that would normally want to stay home and feel cozy, this link to Saturn says that the actions we take during this new moon have long-term has consequences.”

These rules and limitations from Saturn may relate directly to the police brutality and abuse of power we’ve been seeing not just recently, but for years. This isn’t the time to sit idly by and let bygones be bygones — this solar eclipse marks the time to take action and use your voice. What you choose to do this weekend in terms of social justice might just have a long-lasting effect.

And, thankfully, the planets are here to back us up. “Mars and Jupiter will be on our side, forming a beautiful sextile,” Montúfar explains. “They will lend us the courage, ambition, and good judgment we need to keep going and keep fighting for what we believe in.”

This particular eclipse also has an interesting Sabian symbol attributed to it. In astrology, images derived from Spiritualist-medium Elsie Wheeler give a description of each of the 360 separate degrees of the zodiac, notes Leslie Hale, psychic astrologer at Keen.com. “The Sabian symbol for zero degrees Cancer is, ‘on a ship the sailors lower an old flag and raise a new one,'” Hale says. This can be interpreted as a change brought about by all of the societal unrest we’re currently experiencing concerning racism, police brutality, and inequality in general.

This celestial event will only be visible across central Africa, the southern Arabian Peninsula, Pakistan, Northern India, and South Central China — but if you’re not in those areas, that doesn’t mean you can’t still take partake in harnessing its power.

“Solar eclipses mark new beginnings. Because of all of the intense energy, it’s important to be clear on your intention in order to manifest your truest desires,” astrologer Lisa Stardust tells Refinery29. “I like to do bath magic when the moon is in a water sign because that way we can harness the power of the element, which in this case is water.”

Interested in performing your own bath magic? Stardust lays it out. “First, write the intention you wish to achieve down on a piece of paper. Be clear and concise. Add a cup of Epsom salt, a dash of cinnamon, rose petals, and charge a rose quartz crystal under the moon to absorb its potency. While in the bath, place the crystal on your heart chakra to heal your emotions and to open yourself to new possibilities,” she says.

Astrologer and occultist Shawntee Cato agrees: Water rituals are the way to go for this particular solar eclipse. “Cancer is a highly nurturing and protective energy,” she explains. “Water is one of the best ways to engage with our spiritual nature as well as ground our energy.”

Cato’s solar eclipse bath ritual looks a little different than Stardust’s — and is simpler. She recommends salt, Florida water (which can be bought through Amazon, Walmart, and other online stores), and a white candle. Crystals are also great to add, especially smoky quartz, black tourmaline, or clear quartz, if you have them. These stones will help maximize your zen under June’s ring of fire eclipse.

This solar eclipse is about taking action. Raise your voice, say what needs to be said, and do what needs to be done. Only good things can come from speaking up for justice.

SPACE NEWS

A violent collision likely created the Geminids meteor shower

CNN
Wed, June 21, 2023 

The Geminid meteor shower, which lights up the sky each December, is one of the most active and dependable celestial displays of the year.

But the actual origin of the winter light show is something of a mystery. Now, astronomers using NASA’s Parker Solar Probe have gained more insight into the underlying cause of the Geminids.

The meteor shower was first recorded in 1862 and appears to radiate from the Gemini constellation. During the meteor shower’s peak in mid-December, 120 bright yellow meteors can be seen per hour if skies are clear.

Meteors typically originate from the leftover bits and pieces of comets orbiting around the sun. When comets, which originate in the icy outskirts of the solar system, pass close to the sun, they shed trails of particles. Meteor showers appear in Earth’s skies when our planet passes through the debris trails. As the particles collide with Earth’s atmosphere, they blaze up and disintegrate, leaving fiery streaks behind, according to NASA.


The Geminids, however, are unusual in that they have been traced to the asteroid 3200 Phaethon. Scientists have debated the very nature of what Phaethon is. It’s possible that Phaethon is a “dead comet,” with an icy shell that eventually melted away. The closely tracked near-Earth asteroid has been likened to comets, so it’s been called a “rock comet.”

“What’s really weird is that we know that Phaethon is an asteroid, but as it flies by the Sun, it seems to have some kind of temperature-driven activity. Most asteroids don’t do that,” said Jamey Szalay, a research scientist at Princeton University, in a statement. Szalay is the coauthor of a study about the asteroid published on June 15 in The Planetary Science Journal.

Although the Parker Solar Probe, launched in 2018, is on a mission to “touch” and study the sun, the spacecraft’s increasingly close proximity to our star is useful for scientists wanting to study the dust swirling around the inner solar system. The probe’s instruments have provided scientists with a detailed view of the dust particles shed by comets and asteroids on their treks around the sun — and in doing so shed new light on the Geminids-Phaethon connection.
How an asteroid sparked a meteor shower

While the spacecraft doesn’t actually carry a dust counting instrument to measure the grains, the particles impact the Parker Solar Probe as it orbits the sun. As dust hits the spacecraft, it creates electrical signals that can be picked up by the probe’s instruments, including one that measures electric and magnetic fields near the sun.

The Geminid meteor shower streaks across the night sky over the Lhasa River in Tibet on December 14, 2022. - Jiang Feibo/China News Service/VCG/Getty Images

Data collected by the Parker Solar Probe was used by scientists to model three different scenarios for the Geminid meteor shower, which were then compared with models based on observations from Earth.

The data revealed that the most probable cause of the meteor shower was a sudden, violent event, likely a rapid collision of the asteroid with another space rock or even some kind of gaseous explosion that caused the Geminids to first appear in our skies in 1862.

Phaethon was discovered on October 11, 1983, by astronomers using the Infrared Astronomical Satellite.

After Phaethon’s discovery, astronomer Fred Whipple realized that the asteroid and the Geminid meteor shower stream had nearly identical orbits, and he made a connection between the two.

It’s the first asteroid to be associated with a meteor shower, and it measures about 3.17 miles (5.10 kilometers) across. Astronomers have studied the space rock for years in an attempt to determine why it behaves like a comet.

The space rock was named after the Greek myth about the son of Helios, the sun god, because it closely approaches our sun.

Phaethon orbits the sun closer than any other asteroid and takes 1.4 years to complete its orbit.

Even before studying dust in our solar system with Parker Solar Probe, astronomers determined that the asteroid heats up to about 1,300 degrees Fahrenheit (704 degrees Celsius) on its closest approach to the sun, which causes Phaethon to shed more dusty debris.

These particles cause the meteor shower each year when they plunge into Earth’s atmosphere at 79,000 miles per hour (127,000 kilometers per hour), vaporizing in the streaks we call “shooting stars.”

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com

Watch sunlight dance across Earth from solstice to solstice in this gorgeous video

Tereza Pultarova

SPACE
Wed, June 21, 2023 a

a shadow moves across the face of the Earth

An amazing new video demonstrates how Earth's tilt changes throughout the year, causing days to lengthen and shorten from north to south as the planet orbits the sun.

The Northern Hemisphere is experiencing the longest day of the year as our planet reached the moment of the summer solstice today, June 21, at 10:57 a.m. EDT (1457 GMT).

The summer solstice is the moment when the Earth's Northern Hemisphere is most tilted toward the sun, therefore receiving the maximum amount of sunlight during the day. That means the day is the longest for the half of the planet north of the equator where the summer season is entering its peak.


Related: Stonehenge's summer solstice orientation is seen in monuments all over the UK in amazing photos

an illustration depicting how the Earth's tilt affects the seasons

But while the Northern Hemisphere is basking in sunshine, the Southern Hemisphere is trudging through its darkest day of culminating winter. From tomorrow on, the Southern Hemisphere's day will begin to lengthen while the Northern Hemisphere will start losing minutes of daylight.

The new video above released by Simon Proud, an Earth-observation scientist at the National Center for Earth Observation in the U.K., shows the terminator line, the boundary between the day and night, as it moves throughout the year.

"This video, using @eumetsat weather satellite data, shows how the sun appears to move during the year: It is made using 365 pictures, all taken at 6 a.m. on each day over the past year," Proud said in a tweet.

As we know, the sun doesn't really move across the sky (even though it does orbit the center of our galaxy the Milky Way). Its apparent motion overhead is caused by the Earth's rotation around its tilted axes, which means the arc the sun draws in the sky changes day by day, growing larger in the Northern Hemisphere from the winter solstice in December to the summer solstice in June and vice versa.

Related stories:

— June Solstice 2023: How twilight zones affect day length

— The summer solstice: When is it and when does it occur? — What is an equinox?

The video is a sequence of images taken by the European weather satellite Meteosat, which observes the planet from its perch in the geostationary orbit, an orbit at an altitude of 22,200 miles (36,000 kilometers), where spacecraft appear suspended above a fixed spot above Earth's equator.

The planet is now beginning its move toward the autumn equinox, which takes place in September and which sees both hemispheres receiving an equal amount of sunshine on that given day.

The Milky Way's monster black hole let out a huge blast 200 years ago. We can now listen to its echo (video)


Keith Cooper

SPACE
Wed, June 21, 202

purple clouds of gas in space

The supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy woke up and unleashed a fierce outburst of X-rays around the turn of the 19th century, according to new observations of the 'echoes' of the event.

Astronomers have noticed that immense clouds of star-forming molecular gas that inhabit the central region of the Milky Way galaxy shine brighter in X-rays than expected. One possible explanation put forward was that this X-ray light was not intrinsic to the gas clouds, but was being reflected off of them following an outburst from the black hole, which is named Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) and has a mass 4.1 million times that of our sun.

The theory is that, sometime in the relatively recent past, the Sagittarius A* devoured something in just this fashion, and the flash of X-rays is being reflected by the molecular gas clouds in the vicinity of the black hole. Now, a team led by Frédéric Marin of the University of Strasbourg has used NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) satellite has not only found strong evidence that this was the case, but has also been able to put an approximate date on when it happened.


Related: Sagittarius A*: The Milky Way's supermassive black hole

an orange ring on a black background

The gravitational tidal forces around a black hole as massive as Sagittarius A* are strong enough to rip apart anything that wanders too close in a frenzied act of violence. This process releases a flare of X-rays as a gas cloud, a star or even an asteroid is torn asunder, and the debris forms a hot disc of material that spirals into the black hole's maw.

NASA's IXPE spacecraft can measure the polarization of X-ray light from such events. Polarization refers to light waves oscillating in a preferred direction, which can reveal information about how the light has been produced and reflected. IXPE found that the X-ray echoes have a polarization angle consistent with an origin in the direction of Sagittarius A*. Furthermore, the strength of the polarization indicates that the X-rays were emitted a little over 200 years ago in an event that lasted less than a year-and-a-half.

clouds of purple gas in space

"Our work presents the missing piece of evidence that X-rays from the giant molecular clouds are due to reflection of an intense, yet short-lived flare produced at or nearby Sgr A*," Marin's team wrote in a paper describing their findings.

The brightness of the X-ray echoes indicates that this outburst increased the black hole's X-ray luminosity a millionfold compared to its dormant state today. The total amount of energy released is estimated to be between 1039 – 1044 ergs. This is comparable with a breed of active galaxy called a Seyfert, which have supermassive black holes that feeding on large amounts of material but over a much longer period of time.

RELATED STORIES:

— Brilliant gamma-ray flare 100 times brighter than our entire galaxy reveals 1 monster black hole is actually 2

— The loneliest monster black holes may also be the hungriest

— Sagittarius A* in pictures: The 1st photo of the Milky Way's monster black hole explained in images

Exactly what unfortunate object fell too close to Sagittarius A* to be ripped apart remains unknown. The existence of stars that orbit very close to the black hole, and clouds of gas that pass dangerously close and are distorted by the black hole's gravity, suggest that there is a ready supply of material that will eventually fall into the black hole.

The findings were published on June 21 in the journal Nature.

Sun unleashes giant X-flare in outburst that could spark auroras on Mars (video)

Elizabeth Howell
Wed, June 21, 2023 

a close-up of the sun in false color wavelengths, with a burst of flare on the left limb

Behold the power of the sun!

Our star unleashed an X-flare — the strongest type of solar radiation outburst — at 1:09 p.m. EDT (1709 GMT) on Tuesday (June 20).

Footage of the flare was caught by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which keeps a constant watch on sun activity alongside other agency satellites and observatories from the European Space Agency, among other entities.

Related: Space weather: What is it and how is it predicted?

NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the newly arrived sunspot AR3341 blasting out a powerful X1.1 solar flare on June 20, 2023. (Image credit: NASA/SDO)

"Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation," NASA's sun account on Twitter stated. "Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground. However — when intense enough — they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel."

The flare was associated with a coronal mass ejection (CME), a huge cloud of superheated plasma that the sun blasted into space. The CME was not aimed at Earth and, as such, it will not ramp up any auroral displays here, according to SpaceWeather.com, citing a NASA model.

But the solar plasma may spark a glowing light show on Mars that will be visible in a few days to orbiters there, such as NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN).

RELATED STORIES:

— How hot is the sun?

— How was the sun formed?

— See amazing new sun photos from the world's largest solar telescope

The sun is currently nearing the peak of its 11-year activity cycle, with many sunspots clustering on the surface. Sunspots — hotbeds of magnetic activity — serve as launch pads for flares and CMES.

Normally, these eruptions are harmless to humanity, causing only light shows. But NASA and other agencies keep an eye on the sun just in case a warning is required to protect essential infrastructure, like power lines or satellites.

Why didn't the infant universe collapse into a black hole?

Paul Sutter
Wed, June 21, 2023 

spindly purple swirls in deep space, representing star formation in the early universe

You may have wondered: Why didn't the universe collapse into a black hole during the earliest moments of the Big Bang? Simply put, because that's not how you make a black hole.

If you want to make a black hole yourself, it's relatively straightforward: You just take any object and squeeze it as hard as possible. If you can resist all of the other forces and squeeze any amount of matter below a certain critical threshold, then gravity will take over and do the rest of the work for you, crunching that matter down into an infinitely small point and creating a black hole.

That threshold, known as the Schwarzschild radius, depends on the amount of matter you want to squeeze. If you were to take a human body and squeeze it down to the size of roughly an atomic nucleus, you would end up with a human-mass black hole the width of an atomic nucleus. If you were to repeat the process with our planet, you would end up with an Earth-mass but bean-sized black hole.

Related: What happens at the center of a black hole?

Nature makes black holes all the time through the deaths of massive stars. When they run out of fuel, their own gravitational attraction pulls as much material as possible into as small a volume as possible, eventually overwhelming any other force of nature and creating black holes a few miles across with the mass of a few suns.

So that's the simple, one-step trick to making black holes: You take a lot of matter and squeeze it to incredibly high densities.
The early universe

But the centers of massive stars are not the only locales in the universe that have reached incredibly high densities. About 13.77 billion years ago, our entire visible universe was crammed into a volume no bigger than a peach with a temperature of over a quadrillion degrees. That's a rather high density.

So why didn't the entire universe collapse into a black hole? There are two reasons.

One, the creation of a black hole relies on not only incredibly high densities but also density differences. To make a black hole, you need a lot of material crammed into a very small volume, with nothing else surrounding it. Gravity works only on differences. If the density is the same from place to place, then there are no gravitational differences and thus no chance to trigger the formation of a black hole.

Yes, the early universe was incredibly dense. But it was dense everywhere, with barely any differences. Without those differences, black holes couldn't form, because there was no difference in gravity that could lead to the sudden collapse of matter.

RELATED STORIES:

— Could the universe collapse into a singularity? New study explains how.

— Are there any black holes left over from the Big Bang?

— Tiny primordial black holes could have created their own Big Bang
A dynamic universe

But even without density differences, what about the entire universe recollapsing into the singularity that birthed the Big Bang itself? Just to be clear, that wouldn't make the universe turn into a black hole. A black hole is an ultradense collection of matter within space. When we're talking about the expansion or contraction of the universe, we're talking about the evolution of space itself.

But even if it wasn't a black hole, what prevented the collapse into a singularity? What prevented it is that the early universe wasn't static — it was dynamic. It was evolving. It was changing. And most importantly, it was expanding.

The rules of black hole formation simply don't apply in an expanding universe. It's no longer like a star sitting in the middle of empty space, imploding on itself. To collapse into a singularity, it's not enough to have a ton of mass sitting around. You need an overwhelming amount of mass to counteract the natural expansion of the universe and force it to collapse.

And there simply wasn't enough mass in the universe to do that — back then and even now. For decades, cosmologists wondered if there might be enough matter in the universe to cause the present-day expansion to slow down, stop and reverse, eventually leading to a "big crunch" and a return to a singularity.

But multiple measurements have confirmed that there isn't enough stuff to get the job done. Our universe will, as far as we can tell, continue expanding well into the future. Which is a good thing for us — life as we know it doesn't tend to do well inside black holes.

JUNE 21 TRIFECTA 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=SUMMER+SOLSTICE

SUMMER SOLSTICE 

Solar eclipse to coincide with Summer Solstice in 2020

SOLAR ECLIPSE  

1. •                                                                                                          Solar eclipse 2020: Rare Summer Solstice ‘ring of fire’ takes place this week

     The Independent via Yahoo News· 1 day ago
     The annular solar eclipse will see the Sun, Moon and Earth align on Sunday, 21 June, creating a...
2. • 

     Solar eclipse 2020 as it happened: Coverage of rare 'annular' event that passed directly over 12...

     The Independent via Yahoo News· 10 hours ago
     A partial eclipse will also be visible at various times in dozens of other countries, weather...

FATHERS DAY

Here Comes The Sun

Let the Sunshine In.

Hail Apollo!
Hail Our Sun,
Whom I am
the Son of.

It is the Summer Solstice the longest day of the year. And the official begining of summer.


Stonehenge revellers 'feel the solstice'
Toronto Star, Canada - 2 hours ago
STONEHENGE, England — Thousands of dancing and drumming spectators cheered the summer solstice at Stonehenge as an orange sliver of sun rose over the Heel ...
Druids and New Age revelers greet longest day
CNN International - 3 hours ago
STONEHENGE, England (AP) -- Druids, partygoers and New Age revelers flocked to this ancient monument Tuesday, preparing to greet the summer solstice amid the ...


Here comes the sun,
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun,
Here comes the sun, and I say
It's all right

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summer, solstice, June21, Stonehedge, druids, new-age, pagans, paganism, longest-day, sun, solar, solar-phallic, Apollo, , sun=gods

What is solar winter and are we in it now? What to know about the darkest time of year

MARY WALRATH-HOLDRIDGE, USA TODAY
November 13, 2023 

Solar winter is simply defined as the quarter of the year with the shortest daylight.

Bad news for those who enjoy the long, lazy days of summer. We've now officially entered the darkest time of year.

While you've surely noticed the sky turning dark much sooner since the recent end of Daylight Saving Time, sunlight is set to become even more sparse as the Northern Hemisphere enters a time of year known as solar winter.

The waning daylight was made more noticeable by the recent time change, but the days have actually been getting shorter since the summer solstice on June 21. The summer solstice occurs when one of the Earth's poles, in this case the northern one, is titled closest to the sun, causing the longest day and shortest night of the calendar year.

After this, the days begin getting shorter until the winter solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year, at which point things turn around and start moving once more in the opposite direction.

This year, the winter solstice is set to occur on Dec. 21. Until then, we can expect things to keep getting, well, darker. So how does the solar winter play into all of this?


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What is solar winter?

The sunset over Codorus State Park on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023, in Manheim Township, Pennsylvania.

Solar winter is the quarter of the year with the least amount of daylight for the Northern Hemisphere, according to AccuWeather.com. While the dates are approximate and may change slightly from year to year, solar winter generally lasts from about Nov. 6 to Feb. 3.

Solar winter may be the darkest time of year, but that doesn't mean it's the coldest. Thanks to a phenomena called seasonal lag, it takes some time for Earth's land and water to catch up when temperatures begin to change between seasons. Warmer weather from the summer and fall carries over into the early phases of the winter, keeping temperatures higher.

Water has a higher heat capacity than land, meaning it takes more time and significant change in temperature for the waters that make up more than 70% of Earth's surface to cool down or warm up. The slowness of this process means that even if we are experiencing the darkest days of the year, we likely are not experiencing the coldest at the same time.

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What comes after solar winter?

A boy rests halfway up the hill during an afternoon of sledding at Atkins Glen Park in Park Ridge, New Jersey, on Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2023.

Each year, there are three phases of winter between November and December. While we have dates to dictate the "official" duration of each season, meteorologists and climatologists have a different way of defining the season.

Solar winter, where we are now, is the period from November to February in which the time between sunrise and sunset is shortest during the calendar year.


Meteorological winter, as the name implies, has less to do with sunlight and more with weather and temperature. This categorization of winter runs from Dec. 1 through February and coincides with the coldest months of the year.


Astronomical winter is based on the Earth's position relative to the sun and dictates the "official" start of winter. The calendar dates for the start of winter shift slightly each year based on the Earth's rotation, but this three-month period is dictated by the start of the winter solstice and ends with the spring equinox.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is solar winter? The darkest time of year has arrived

The Monument Builders

Ancient civilizations that we are discovering/recovering give credence to the Atlantis Mythos, that ancient humans were more 'civilized' than we thought.

Thus condradicting the 'scientistic' bias that we are advanced and earlier cultures are 'primitive'.

Which also discredits idiots like Erich Von Daniken who belive that primitive man was incapable of advanced momument building so he attributes it to space aliens.

Who is only out done in stupidity by the Creationist Cretins who believe the world was only created 4,400 years ago.

In fact the ancient celebrations of the Sun at solstice, continue with us today. It marks the passing of the year from Summer through Winter. All other markings of the calendar are then based on planting and harvesting times of agrianian cultures.

Monument builders reveal an agrarian based culture, one that meant peoples remained in the area rather than being nomadic hunter gatherers. The fact that across the world in distant locations but at the same time period, 2000-4000 years ago, pyramid and monument building was being done by diverse disconnected agrarian civilizations, shows that our social evolution is collective.

That it is historical materialist; that is the material basis of production affects our conciousness. Thus as peoples developed settled agrarian cultures they became monument and pyramid builders. In Asia, Asia Minor, Europe and the Americas.

The remnants of our past memories of this time period are reflected in the continuing celebration of our Fire Rituals of Summer and Winter.

A tip o' the blog to John Murney for this.

Stonehenge-Like Tomb Also Marks Solstice

June 22, 2006 — An ancient British tomb monument contemporary with the first phase of Stonehenge’s construction suggests one prehistoric culture built the two structures to mark the summer solstice, according to archaeologists.

The tomb is called Bryn Celli Ddu, which in Welsh translates to "the mound in a dark grove." It is located on the island of Anglesey off the northwest coast of Wales. New radiocarbon dating of postholes outside of the burial monument determined the mound is over 6,000 years old. Stonehenge dates to around 2800 B.C., but some historians think it could be much older.

According to research published in the current issue of British Archaeology and the National Museum Wales Book "The Tomb Builders in Wales: 4,000-3,000 B.C.," both Bryn Celli Ddu and Stonehenge are aligned with the summer solstice.

The heel stone at Stonehenge marks this event, while a passageway and quartz-rich stone located in the back of the burial monument lights up in a dramatic sun show.

In Brazil, a tropical Stonehenge is found

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — A grouping of granite blocks along a grassy Amazon hilltop may be the vestiges of a centuries-old astronomical observatory — a find archaeologists say indicates early rainforest inhabitants were more sophisticated than previously believed.

The 127 blocks, some as high as 9 feet tall, are spaced at regular intervals around the hill, like a crown 100 feet in diameter.

On the shortest day of the year — Dec. 21 — the shadow of one of the blocks disappears when the sun is directly above it.

"It is this block's alignment with the winter solstice that leads us to believe the site was once an astronomical observatory," said Mariana Petry Cabral, an archaeologist at the Amapá State Scientific and Technical Research Institute. "We may be also looking at the remnants of a sophisticated culture."

Anthropologists have long known that local indigenous populations were acute observers of the stars and sun. But the discovery of a physical structure that appears to incorporate this knowledge suggests pre-Colombian Indians in the Amazon rainforest may have been more sophisticated than previously suspected.

"Transforming this kind of knowledge into a monument; the transformation of something ephemeral into something concrete, could indicate the existence of a larger population and of a more complex social organization," Cabral said.

Cabral has been studying the site, near the village of Calçoene, just north of the equator in Amapá state in far northern Brazil, since last year. She believes it was once inhabited by the ancestors of the Palikur Indians, and while the blocks have not been submitted to carbon dating, she says pottery shards near the site indicate they are pre-Columbian and maybe older — as much as 2,000 years old.

Last month, archaeologists working on a hillside north of Lima, Peru, announced the discovery of the oldest astronomical observatory in the Western Hemisphere — giant stone carvings, apparently 4,200 years old, that align with sunrise and sunset on Dec. 21

The Boyne Valley

The Boyne Valley contains the largest and most decorated megalithic sites in all of Ireland and has been described as "the largest and most important expression of prehistoric megalithic art in Europe."

The large megalithic sites were built over 5,000 years ago between 3800 and 3200 B.C., built before both Stonehenge in England and the great pyramids in Egypt. Within a three mile radius in the Boyne Valley are more than 30 prehistoric monuments, including the great passage tombs and their satellite structures, standing stones, barrows and other enclosures.

Neolithic communities built these sites over earlier sacred spots and it is suspected that they were used for a combination of purposes, including use as burial tombs, sacred temples and astronomical observatories.

Newgrange

NEWGRANGE: The most famous prehistoric monument in Ireland, Newgrange, a passage tomb, was built around 3200 B.C. The most interesting feature—a "light" box over the entrance to the chamber designed to capture sunlight to illuminate the chamber on the winter solstice. (Tourism Ireland)

The most famous of all Irish prehistoric monuments, Newgrange was built on a one-acre site around 3200 B.C. and draws more than 200,000 visitors each year. It is one of only three United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites in Ireland. It is known as a passage tomb, which is defined as a grave set in a mound of earth or stone with a passage leading to a central chamber. Passage tombs are usually found in groups and Newgrange is no exception, as it is surrounded by 40 other such sites.

The chamber inside the mound measures 21.5 feet by 17 feet and has three separate recesses (chambers) off the main chamber. The most amazing and well-known feature of Newgrange is the presence of a roof or light box over the entrance to the chamber. The roof box was specifically designed to capture the light from the sun and illuminate the chamber on the winter solstice (Dec. 21). When the sun rises over Newgrange on this day, its rays enter the roof box and penetrate 65.62 feet into the ground to illuminate the entire chamber for 17 minutes, from 8:58 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.

During the following three days, some sunlight enters the chamber, but not as much as on Dec. 21. The roof box is engraved with a series of eight lozenges that may represent the eight pagan festivals that were held each year. This box was designed so precisely with the rising of the winter solstice sun, that it has shown without doubt that these people had an extensive knowledge of astronomy.

Meanwhile: Midsummer magic, sun and fire

Sun worship is alive and well all over Europe, even in our century. I don't mean the summer invasion of beaches where bodies bake to a shade of toast. Or even the ancient Druidic rites this week in places like Stonehenge, as the midsummer sun astonishes by rising in perfect alignment with the huge stone circle.

I have in mind a custom widely celebrated from Scandinavia to southern Spain, from Russia to Ireland, and even in China. In this midsummer week, pagans, Christians and unbelievers alike will gather for fire ceremonies that have their origins in rites associated with the sun.

Communities and families will light bonfires and dance around them, young lovers leap over the flames together or toss flowers across the fire, flaming brands will be carried around the fields.

The fire ceremony itself probably goes back to the beginnings of human history. But the Catholic Church absorbed the old pagan celebration into its own calendar by setting the feast day of St. John the Baptist on June 24. The symbolism was deliberate: just as, in the pagan and Celtic religions, the summer king gives way at midsummer to the winter king, similarly John the Baptist gives way to Jesus Christ, who will be born around the winter solstice.

Ancient nature beliefs say that such turning points in the year open doors between worlds. The "standing still" of the sun was said to release much magic, and the barriers between nature spirits and humans to briefly fall. St. John's Eve, then, is meant to be a time of special power for gathering healing herbs, or drawing a protective ring of fire around crops and cattle.


Also See:

Here Comes The Sun

Dialectical Anthropology-A.P. Alexeev

Another Prehistoric Woman

Ecology=Equality

Holy Smoke

For a Ruthless Criticism of Everything Existing

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