Winter solstice

[kernelbogey]

Occurs at 2148 this evening.

I find this scientific fact more significant than the various religious festivals which have attached to this physical phenomenon. I think of myself embarking on my next journey around the sun, and, metaphorically from the same place as all preceding solstices. Of course, since the universe is expanding that 'place' is purely notional. But I find it satisfying to think that way.

[Dave2002]

Do the Druids come out tomorrow, then?

[teamsaint]

Approx 3.30 Pm today.

Seeing the sun setting between the trilothons is magical. There was a good break in the clouds for about 15 mins today, which made for a good photo opportunity.

[kernelbogey]

Thank you ts: awesome shot!

[RichardB]

I think of myself embarking on my next journey around the sun, and, metaphorically from the same place as all preceding solstices. Of course, since the universe is expanding that 'place' is purely notional.

It's still the same place relative to the sun though! (unless we take precession into account)

Nice photo, ts. I've never been there, and I didn't realise it was possible to get as close as that, without being an official druid or something.

[Bryn]

Ah well, the year has now turned.

[Joseph K]

Nice photo, TS.

[teamsaint]

It's still the same place relative to the sun though! (unless we take precession into account)

Nice photo, ts. I've never been there, and I didn't realise it was possible to get as close as that, without being an official druid or something.

I have been there many times, it being my local World Heritage site As kids we used to go there and roam the site as we wished.

The effect of a visit varies in my experience, depending on ones frame of mind. It can feel like a processed tourist experience. It can be very inspiring.

In 2019 Mrs TS suggested we go for the winters solstice sunset .Not being really aware of the significance , I wasn’t especially anticipating something special.
But to be there when the sun is shining, and to see it setting through those three spaces, knowing that that is precisely how it was designed, is something that only really has its full impact when seen first hand. Hard to overstate what an impact it had.

If anybody is ever in the area from around Dec 16/26, and especially if the skies are clear, you really should get yourself there. The sun setting effect is much the same each day for those 10 days apparently.
£20 a head these days, free to English Heritage and National Trust members.

You can get within a couple of metres of the heel stone , where I took that photo, and round the stones you can get within 5/10 metres on one side, or if you pay about £50 they do special sessions on summer evenings when you can wander through the stones.

The druids were there today. They don’t get special privileges on winter solstice sunset, which is odd really because it is one of the two key moments of the year, and there are usually only a few druids there.

[pastoralguy]

Thank you ts: awesome shot!

[Pulcinella]

In my great ignorance, I though everything there hinged on sunrise not sunset!

[smittims]

It's a curious comment on the way our society has developed that Stonehenge was unfenced and , in theory, free of access for centuries, millennia, even (see Constable and Turner's paintings ) , without, apparently any harm coming to it, until the 1950s. was it, when controls began. I first went there in 1977 and it was already looking like a top-security Government establishment.

[Bryn]

It's a curious comment on the way our society has developed that Stonehenge was unfenced and , in theory, free of access for centuries, millennia, even (see Constable and Turner's paintings ) , without, apparently any harm coming to it, until the 1950s. was it, when controls began. I first went there in 1977 and it was already looking like a top-security Government establishment.

My first visit was some 20 years earlier. At that time one could clamber over the fallen stones. The family had recently moved from Norwood to Swindon, so I made many more visits to Avebury than to Old Sarum, the former being a convenient day out by bicycle. It is my understanding that very considerable damage was done to the stones at Stonehenge over previous centuries, many being used as sources of material for local homestead construction.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Ah well, the year has now turned.

Yes - and no.

The sun is now setting later, but for the rest of this month, it’s rising later too, so the day length hardly changes until January.

[cloughie]

Indeed we will have many a dark morning yet and also if I read it correctly last night was the longest night but today is the shortest day!

[Dave2002]

Sadly photos I took many years ago have I suspect long been lost. I went with a friend and we had B&W photos of us standing in between the stones. The negatives very likely were thrown out in house moves. Occasionally negatives from earlier years do turn up and sometimes present challenges to see if we can identify any of the people in them.