Mix it up: Timelapse videos make mundane things like a sunset exciting. On an iPhone or Android, open the Camera app and select Timelapse mode. Tap Record to start recording; tap it again to stop. FYI, 30 minutes of real time is roughly 10 seconds of timelapse footage. Test it with a nice sunset!
Plan now for the summer solstice
It might feel like summer in Phoenix (and many other places), but it’s not official until June 21. There’s no single day with the earliest sunrise and latest sunset. It varies depending on where you live.
You don’t need to go all the way to Sweden for “Midsommar.” (Yes, like that creepy movie.) Check out these solstice celebrations … and yeah, it’s not too late to catch a flight.
Celebrate the summer solstice in style
- If you’re willing to stay up late, the non-profit English Heritage livestreams sunrise at Stonehenge. It starts at 8:49 p.m. Pacific/11:49 p.m. Eastern on June 20.
- Live in New York? Manhattanhenge is where you can see the sunrise shine through the streets of NYC. The most famous spot is the Tudor City Bridge on 42nd Street. 14th, 23rd and 34th streets are killer views, too.
- The most impressive celebrations are in Europe. About 8,000 people head to Reykjavik in Iceland yearly for the Secret Solstice Music Festival. The headlining band performs under the midnight sun. Seriously cool.
- The solstice is a national holiday in Sweden. The sky never gets truly dark and parties last all night long.
- A site I want to see: In Egypt, you can watch the sunset between the Pyramids of Giza.
- On the island of Orkney in Scotland, sunrise is in perfect alignment with the Standing Stones of Sternness — upright stones that might be even older than Stonehenge.
🌇 Summer solstice: The one day you can say, “It’s going to be a long day” and no one can tell you you’re wrong.
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Here's what the SECRET dot in your iPhone's weather app means
Checking to see what the weather will be like, you thankfully no longer have to page through the local newspaper. You can get all the information you need on your phone, and here are five of the best weather apps for iOS and Android.
Spectacular 'Christmas Star' will appear for the first time in 800 years
If you had to describe 2020, you probably wouldn’t say that it was the year the planets aligned. That phrase is reserved for use in good times, and the past year hasn’t been a lucky one for most.
But while things haven’t exactly fallen into place for 2020 thanks to the pandemic, we will be closing the year off with a spectacular space show in which everything lines up just right. Later this month, two planets in our solar system will align, creating a double planet for the first time in 800 years.