Solstice

Stonehenge was built to align with the sun on the solstices. On the summer solstice, the sun rises behind the Heel Stone in the north-east part of the horizon and its first rays shine into the heart of Stonehenge. On the winter solstice, the sun sets to the south-west of the stone circle.

Winter Solstice 2024

LIVE! See the skies above Stonehenge

The Skyscape website has been created by English Heritage to enable people around the world to experience the skies above the iconic stone circle, to learn about movements of the sun, moon and planets and to see the solar alignment at Stonehenge

Aside from the technical and informational aspects of Skyscape it’s also our hope that you’ll enjoy it from a more human perspective. We’ve created a webpage which offers a small escape, a pleasant place to visit, to which you can return frequently, even within a single day, and connect with the land, the stones and the skies above.

GO TO SKYSCAPE

Reconstruction drawing of midwinter solistice at Stonehenge in the Neolithic period

Winter Solstice

The stones of Stonehenge have silently marked the winter solstice for thousands of years.

Find out what the winter solstice is and why our ancestors might have built this extraordinary monument

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Summer Solstice

Find out more about the importance of the solstice axis at Stonehenge and what else we have learnt about the alignment of the stones.

Find out more