Massive lunar standstill will light up Stonehenge on summer solstice

(NewsNation) – Skywatchers could gain new insights into Stonehenge during a rare celestial event taking to the skies this summer solstice on Friday, June 21st.

Every summer night, tens of thousands of people gather at Stonehenge to celebrate and witness the rising sun aligned with the Heel Stone outside the circle, but a long-standing hypothesis is that part of the historic structure is also aligned with the sunrise. and the setting of the moon in what is called the great lunar standstill.

A great lunar standstill It happens every 18.6 years, when the moon rises and sets at the most extreme points of the horizon, while also rising to the highest and lowest points in the sky, making it appear in the night sky for longer.

This year marks the first “great lunar standstill,” also known as a “lunistical,” since 2006. During the event, the tilts of the Earth and Moon are at their maximum and will overlap the Summer Solstice on Friday night in the northern hemisphere.

Similar spectacles tied to indigenous landmarks across the U.S. will take place during these lunistic months at Chimney Rock in Colorado, the Hopewell Sites in Ohio and Chaco Canyon in New Mexico.

Local high points of the main lunar standstill will vary depending on location and weather conditions, but there is a chance of visibility two nights a month from now until November 2025.

Although the solar system is essentially flat and most planets and asteroids orbit within a flat plane or disk called the ecliptic, the Moon’s orbit comes from a slightly different angle.

As Earth rotates along an axis tilted 23.4 degrees relative to this ecliptic plane, our moon’s orbit is tilted only 5.1 degrees relative to the ecliptic.

The result is that the moon ascent and descent pointsand therefore how much of the Earth it crosses can vary by up to 57 degrees depending on the year.

According to English Heritage, the long axis of the rectangle formed by Stonehenge’s four Station Stones orients in the direction of the southernmost moonrise at the greatest lunar standstill.

“Stonehenge’s architectural connection to the Sun is well known, but its connection to the Moon is less understood,” said Clive Ruggles, emeritus professor of archaeoastronomy at the University of Leicester. “The four Station Stones align with the extreme positions of the Moon, and researchers have debated for years whether this was deliberate and, if so, how it was achieved and what its purpose might have been.”

Scientists will be in Stonehenge during “shutdown season” to photograph the moments when the moon is aligned with the Station Stones.

“Unlike the Sun, tracking the Moon’s extremes is not straightforward, requiring specific timing and meteorological conditions,” said Dr. Amanda Chadburn from Kellogg College at the University of Oxford. “We want to understand a little what it was like to experience these extreme moonrises and sunsets and witness their visual effects on the rocks – for example, patterns of light and shadow – and consider modern influences like traffic and trees, and document all of this through photography for study future.”

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story