Vintage Astronomy Illustrations (for Summer Solstice 2021)
The Summer Solstice occurs on 21 June 2021 (GMT), and is known as the estival solstice or midsummer in the Northern Hemisphere, when one of the Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the sun. Daylight will be the longest of the whole year. In the Southern Hemisphere, the longest daylight will occur at the December Solstice.
Below are a series of images of 19th and early-20th century astronomical depictions from research and science texts.
Sources: 'Nautical Astronomy' (William Thoms, 1902); 'Astronomy for Amateurs' (1904); 'Elements of Astronomy' (1875); 'The World: Historical and Actual' (1886); 'High-school Astronomy' (1859)
Public domain imagery accessed via Library of Congress and the Internet Archive Book Images (Flickr).
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