Summer Solstice -- Happy Midsummer Day!

Solstice celebrations center around the day of the astronomical summer solstice. Some choose to hold the rite on the 21st of June, even when this is not the longest day of the year, and some celebrate June 24th, the day of the solstice in Roman times.

The solstice itself has remained a special moment of the annual solar cycle of the year since Neolithic times.

Although Midsummer is originally a pagan holiday, in Christianity it is associated with the nativity of John the Baptist, which is observed on the same day, June 24, in the Catholic, Orthodox and some Protestant churches. It is six months before Christmas because Luke 1:26 and Luke 1.36 imply that John the Baptist was born six months earlier than Jesus, although the Bible does not say at which time of the year this happened.

In East Asia, the summer solstice is Xiàzhì (pīnyīn) or Geshi (rōmaji) (Chinese and Japanese: 夏至; Korean: 하지(Haji); Vietnamese: Hạ chí; literally: "summer's extreme") and is the 10th solar term.

Jupiter "Takes One for the Team" - Again!

A huge fireball has been spotted on Jupiter in yet another collision from space caught on camera and video by amateur astronomers.

The events on Thursday night serve as a strong reminder about how Jupiter is a critical component for life in our solar system. The gas giant acts as a gravitational 'vacuum cleaner' swallowing any outer-solar system debris that stray too close, preventing a huge number of potentially hazardous asteroids and comets from taking a nosedive into Earth.

Studying the gas giant and understanding how many times it gets struck by comets and asteroids will help scientists understand how many chunks of rock and ice are floating around in the outer solar system. As Wesley and Christopher Go have proven, amateur astronomers from all over the world perform an increasingly important role in this endeavor.

See Video