Stonehenge welcomes crowds to watch sunrise on summer solstice

Thousands gather to see sunrise

Thousands of people are celebrating the summer solstice today at Stonehenge.

This morning, crowds of people gathered at the prehistoric monument in Wiltshire to watch the sun rise at 4.52am.

The site is built on the alignment of the midsummer sunrise and the midwinter sunset.

When the sun rises, it lines up with the Heel stone and the Altar stone of the ancient site.

It is widely believed that the summer solstice has been celebrated at Stonehenge for thousands of years.

(AFP/Getty Images)

Many people visit Stonehenge, which is thought to have been erected between 2000 BC and 3000 BC, as it is believed to be an ancient religious site.

Spectators often include pagans and druids who cheer and dance as the sun rises at the location.

Friday’s celebration also marked the first time English Heritage aired a live feed from a camera close to the stones to allow people around the world to tune in with the activities taking place at the site all day.

The feed, which has been launched by the English Heritage under the Stonehenge Project, will later be replaced by a computer-generated image of the night sky at the moment the viewer clicks on website’s link.

Today, the UK will be treated to 16 hours and 38 minutes of daylight on the day before the sun sets at 9.21pm.

The summer solstice – otherwise known as the festival solstice, midsummer or Litha – is the longest day of the year.

It occurs when the earth’s geographical pole on either the northern or southern hemisphere becomes most inclined towards the sun and officially marks the beginning of summer.

In astrological terms, the summer solstice marks the end of spring and start of summer for the northern hemisphere.

It will end with the autumn equinox, which this year falls on 23 September.