Summer solstice – in pictures
Summer has started in the northern hemisphere. A summer solstice occurs for Earth’s upper half when the northern hemisphere is angled most closely toward the sun. The summer solstice marks the longest day and shortest night of the year
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People celebrate the summer solstice near a bonfire in the village of Okunevo, about 124 miles (200km) north-east of the Siberian city of Omsk, Russia
Photograph: Evgeniy Sofiychuk/AP
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People jump over a fire in the village of Okunevo
Photograph: Evgeniy Sofiychuk/AP
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A person waves a burning wheel in Okunevo
Photograph: Evgeniy Sofiychuk/AP
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People perform a round dance during the Ivan Kupala festival, marking the day of the summer solstice, in the Leningrad region in Russia
Photograph: Anton Vaganov/Reuters
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Visitors walk towards the sunrise at Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England
Photograph: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images
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Visitors touch the stones as the sun rises at Stonehenge
Photograph: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images
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Visitors watch the sunrise at Stonehenge. The site may once have served as a calendar or temple for important dates and events
Photograph: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images
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People gather during sunrise at Stonehenge
Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA
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People gather during sunrise as they take part in the summer solstice at Stonehenge
Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA
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A couple get married among the stones as the sun sets at the summer solstice celebrations at Stonehenge
Photograph: Martin Pope/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock
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On the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, the sun rises in perfect alignment with the Heel Stone and Altar Stone of Stonehenge’s 5,000-year-old circle
Photograph: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images
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A woman raises her arms as the sun sets at Stonehenge
Photograph: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images
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Women make flower wreaths while celebrating the summer solstice during the Kupala Night by the Krakus Mound in Krakow, Poland
Photograph: Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock
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Kupala Night is an old Slavic holiday falling on the shortest night of the year
Photograph: Beata Zawrzel/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock
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People gather around a bonfire during a celebration in Krakow
Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
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The summer solstice celebration in Krakow
Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
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A yoga instructor welcomes the winter solstice at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia
Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
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A musician wearing traditional dress plays during a procession ahead of the winter solstice celebration in Tiwanaku, Bolivia
Photograph: Gastón Brito/Getty Images
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Dancers perform across the lighted squares of Christopher Janey’s ‘Passing Light’ solar sculpture at San Antonio airport in Texas, US. The sculpture incorporates large plexiglass squares embedded in the ceiling that project a grid of colours that align with a painted grid for less than a minute each summer solstice
Photograph: Eric Gay/AP
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People take part in a free yoga class to celebrate the summer solstice, called ‘Solstice in Times Square: Mind Over Madness Yoga’, in New York
Photograph: Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Images
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Yogi Cealia Brannan leads the yoga class in Times Square
Photograph: Sarah Yenesel/EPA
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Swimmers participate in the annual nude winter solstice swim during Hobart’s Dark Mofo festival at Long Beach in Hobart, Australia
Photograph: Adam Sills/EPA
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Swimmers take a selfie at Long Beach in Hobart
Photograph: Ethan James/EPA
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Expeditioners at Australia’s Antarctic and sub-Antarctic stations celebrate the shortest day of the year with an icy swim
Photograph: Australian Antarctic Division
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