Summer solstice

Odessan Owen Holden said he can’t wait to sit inside the University of Texas of the Permian Basin’s Stonehenge replica on the early morning of December 21, 2012.

On that day — still five years removed from now — the winter solstice will not just mark the first day of winter. It’ll mean the end of the Mayan calendar.

“That isn’t too far away,” Holden said.

On Thursday, Holden was one of about 15 people to gather at the Stonehenge replica to mark the summer solstice — sunrise starting the first day of summer and longest day of the year.

Odessa’s crowd wasn’t quite as large as the 24,000 who visited the original Stonehenge in England, but both groups were mimicking what people have been doing since 3000 BC.

About 6:58 a.m., the sun sat atop the Heel Stone part of the replica and most of the spectators discussed amongst themselves what the experience meant to them.

“I thought just for the heck of it we’d come out here,” Holden said, noting he came with his uncle. “I want to see if those sun rays come through the arches.”

Another observer, Beverly Landgraf, said she also came to watch the spring equinox — when the sun appears just atop the equator — and each time she enjoys the link to history.

“It’s kind of a spiritual thing,” Landgraf said. “It’s like you have a tie back to the past.”

Up until June 21 — the first day of summer — the sun moves toward the north and as soon as the sun rises one can tell the sun begins to move back southward but not without creating a certain illusion, Dick Brooks, a former Odessa High astronomy teacher of 14 years, said.

“It appears the sun will stand still for one day,” he said.

The summer solstice means more warm weather and some ancient people even used the day to mark prime hunting opportunities, Brooks said.

“The ancient people had a great knowledge of nature,” Brooks said. “They had so much time on their hands they could study the movement of the sun and the moon every day of the year.”