The closest I came to anything “midsummer” growing up was Shakespeare. And back then, I didn’t know why it made them all bat crap crazy. My experiences with the sun were limited to burns from, and being told not to look into the sun or I’ll go blind (unlike some things I was told as a child, this is actually true). I think I knew the Solstice was the longest day of the year, but I wouldn’t swear to it.
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| Photo from NASA |
What we sometimes forget is that it is only longer in our hemisphere. So while those of us in Northern Hemisphere are celebrating Summer, our Southern friends are celebrating Winter.
SUN; the name of the central body (hmmm, sounds like they didn’t know it was a star either, but then I read further and they write, “IF we regard the sun as a star…) of the solar system, the luminous orb from which the earth receives light and heat…
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| I’d trust this device… (photo from tfcbook.com) |
Oh wow, here is something to make your head explode: “The first adequate determination of the character as well as amount of solar radiation was made by S. P. Langley in 1893…with the bolometer, an exceedingly sensitive instrument which he invented and which enabled him to feel his way thermally over the whole spectrum, noting all the chief Fraunhofer lines and bands…”
bo-lom-e-ter: a very sensitive thermometer used in the detection and measurement of feeble thermal radiation and especially adapted to the study of infrared spectra…I’m going to close with some historical comparisons with the present and end this sun madness!
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| Pontiac Solstice – just for fun! (Photo from myride.com) |
If you’d like more information about the sun, check out Wikipedia. And feel free to check my math. I decided to stop doing it when my eyes started to bleed.
I think it is important to note that what we think we know can change dramatically when our view is widened. When I was little, we thought there might be life on the dark side of the moon. And maybe cheese. 
All comments from all June blogs will count as entries. Winner will be announced in the July 2, 2012 blog post. Check back to see who won!
Pauline Baird Jones is the author novels, some which play ducks and drakes with the facts. Her latest book is called Kicking Ashe, a science fiction romance novel and the conclusion to her award-winning Project Enterprise series of connected novels. You can learn more about the series and her other novels at www.paulinebjones.com
Many thanks, Jenny! I’ve been looking for that button but can’t seem to come up with right search term for it! =8-0
Hey, Pauline! Jenny (from WANA612) here…
You have all the buttons I love except a WordPress like button. Can I have one of those?
p.s. I love your author photo!
Many thanks for stopping by, Regina!
Hi Pauline,thanks for sharing the facts
Regina
It does seem as if the whole internet has gone bat crap crazy for the solstice. LOL! I promise to never, ever look into the sun.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
There’s been a lot of sunny talk, lately, Pauline: what with major sun spots, solar winds, (failed) predictions of global communications loss due to solar eruptions, and of course rumors of giant space craft flitting about in the sun’s corona. So much of what we think we know about the sun has changed recently – and will probably change again. The one thing that I do know for sure – as do you – do NOT look directly into the sun. Good advice to all younglings.