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Unless otherwise stated, this image is the copyright of the submitter. Contact them for permission to reproduce it. |  | | Description | Category *A* Solstice.
Late June evening on Beaulieu heath with the sun almost at its most northwesterly setting. The bowl barrow at SU416039 stands in silhouette - at 5m high it is huge by New Forest standards, and a very prominent landmark on this wide open heathland.
The streaks of light projecting up from the clouds were even more striking a few moments before when I first tried to take this photograph. Unfortunately that was when the camera's batteries ran out and by the time I'd reloaded with fresh ones the effect was not as strong. Ho hum. |
| Posted Comments: JimChampion
(2005-06-21) | This was taken on Sunday evening (Jun 19 2005) so its not strictly a solstice photo!
Also... the barrow looks like its left-had side has been chopped off, and thats exactly what happened to it. Beaulieu Heath was one of the areas used by the allied forces prior to the Normandy landings, and this barrow (being the biggest feature on the heath) was used as a shooting butt on a WWII rifle range. | creators
(2005-06-22) | Jim, this is so good it hurts! Even and despite the batteries. | creators
(2005-06-22) | I note the rules of the current comp say, * A * Best Photo with a Summer Solstice theme (doesn't have to be Stonehenge or taken at the Solstice), how about it? | Thorgrim
(2005-06-22) | Yes Jim - enter it! Everyone seems to think that the summer solstice happens at sunrise on the 21st. Perhaps one of our astronomers could enlighten us - I always thought that the actual solstice was around midday. I reckon any time between sunset on the19th and sunrise on the 22nd is close enough - but that's just my opinion. | Andy B
(2005-06-22) | Any photo with a 'sun' theme taken over the couple of weeks around the solstice is acceptable by me. You're in - good luck! | JimChampion
(2005-06-22) | Fine by me, consider it entered.
Notes on the solstice (as an astronomical event). The summer solstice is the day when the sunrise/sunset is at its most southerly angle (in the northern hemisphere). My dictionary of physics does not go into disussion of whether the 'solstice' is exactly at midday or not. It is simply the two days of the year (21 June/December) when the sunrise and sunset are at their most extreme southerly/northerly points. The word itself sol-stice means "sun standing still" because it is the time when the daily progression of the sunrise along the horizon slows, stops, and goes back the other way.
Further points: you can define east and west as the points where the sun rises/sets on either of the equinoxes (forget about the earth's magnetic field and compasses, thats different). Also leap years every four years help to keep the solstices at the same days of the calendar. We're never more than 1/4 of a day out, so the most extreme sunrise/sunset will invariably be on the 21st.
Even further point: As far as I know round barrows and astronomical features are not considered to be correlated in any way (as seems to be the case for long barrows and stone circles etc.). If anyone knows of any possible links, say so. | Nasher
(2005-06-23) | what a fantastic picture i hope you are bubbleing whith glee i know that i would be! | TM
(2005-07-28) | wonderfull mood enticing picture, I love it!
| JimChampion
(2006-04-08) | On further reflection... what I wrote earlier is around the wrong way. If you are in the northern hemisphere then the summer solstice is the day when sunrise/sunset is at its most *northerly* point (not southerly!). Adam Hart Davis explains this better in his "What the Ancient Britons Did For Us" TV program. |
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