The day the sun stood still

Happy solstice, that day on which the location of sunrise stops and reverses direction. I’m going to put another link to my Sky Clock here because I’ve added a few improvements to it. The yellow sun line can be seen crossing the blue line labeled “SS” (for summer solstice), thus signifiying the day. It must be summer! Also, the featured planets, stars, and constellations now sport tool tips and links. These links will take you off to the corresponding part of the sky on John Walker’s excellent Virtual Telescope site. Also, there’s a clock in the upper left and a moon phase display in the upper right. I’ll be adding proper horizon lines soon.

Note, by the way how close Mars and Saturn are in the western sky at sunset. It’s a sight worth going out of your way to see.