The longest day of year is here...!!!

June 21st, 2011 is Summer Solstice – the longest day of the year.
This is the time when the Sun is at its highest or most northerly point in the sky in the Northern Hemisphere and when we receive the most hours of daylight. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere it is the reverse, so you will be having “Winter Solstice.”
Also known as “Midsummer” the Summer Solstice gets its name from the Latin for sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still). In ancient India astronomers also observed this change in length of the day. The Sun reaches its most Northerly point (this motion of the Sun is known as Uttarayana) and momentarily stands still before starting its journey South in the sky (known as Dakshinayana) again until it reaches its most Southerly point “Winter Solstice”, before repeating the cycle. This is basically how we get our seasons.
It’s not actually the Sun that moves North or South over the seasons although it may appear so. It’s the Earths axial tilt that causes the Sun to change position in the sky as the Earth orbits the Sun throughout the year.

The Sun reaches its most Northerly point in the sky at 17:16 UTC momentarily and from that point forward starts to make its way South. This means the days will get shorter and shorter until Winter Solstice in December.