The summer solstice will occur tonight at 10:42 pm for the Northern Hemisphere. It will be the longest day and shortest night of the year. The word solstice is derived from the Latin sol ('sun') and sistere ('to stand still'). This annual event has been celebrated by many cultures for thousands of years.
Many monuments have been built around the world to mark the event such as Stonehenge in England, Chichen Itza in Mexico, Machu Picchu in Peru, Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, Serpent Mound in Ohio, Newgrange in Ireland, and the Pyramids in Egypt. The oldest known may be Gobekli Tepe in Turkey.
While you can not actually see time, these structures were an attempt to document and calculate the passing of time in a physical form.
Another shape of time can be found on model globes of the earth.
Another shape of time can be found on model globes of the earth.
The figure eight shaped analema diagrams the position of the sun in the sky as viewed from a fixed location on earth at the same time each day throughout the year.
You can see the earth's tilt on the model globe.
It is that tilt that creates the seasons.
The orrery, seen in this painting by Joseph Wright of Derby, was created to help explain the relationship of the sun and planets in the solar system.
Historians have created various designs to link the seasonal changes with traditional patterns of farm life (click on images to enlarge them).
Robert St. George conceived of time as a circle or cycle.
Thomas Hubka envisioned time in a linear form.
The Conway Public Library's Henney History Room offers a number of free public outreach programs related to the shapes of time to local schools and community groups. You are also welcome to drop by the history room and talk about time, any time.
