This email has found you at the moment of the solstice
Hello everyone, this is your reminder of the grandeur of the universe: I’ve timed this email to arrive in your inbox at the moment of the solstice.
But wait (you might say): isn’t the solstice a day? Well, no… not technically, anyway! While we often refer to “the solstice” to refer to either the longest or shortest day of the year (here in the Northern Hemisphere, those would be the summer and winter solstice), the solstice is actually a single moment in time, when the sun reaches its northernmost point. This year, the solstice takes place today, June 20, at 3:51 Central time (the moment this email arrived in your inbox). This article is from 2023 (so the dates and time in it are not accurate for this year), but does a lovely job of explaining the solstices.
Wherever you are during the solstice today— whether it’s your first day of summer and the most light of the year, or the longest night— I hope you have a moment to consider that you exist on a constantly moving planet, orbiting a star that is also itself hurtling through space alongside billions of others.
In solidarity to the stars,
LW
