Nikki Bonigala

Today is the first day of summer.

This means that it is the day with the longest hours of daylight in the Northern hemisphere and the shortest in the Southern.

Solstices occur twice a year, when the tilt of the earth is most oriented toward or away from the Sun, causing the Sun to reach its northernmost and southernmost extremes.

Apparently the name is derived from the Latin sol and sistere, because at the solstices, the Sun stands still in declination; that is, its apparent movement north or south comes to a standstill.