LONDON — As the sun rose Saturday on the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, a crowd erupted in cheers at Stonehenge where the ancient monument in southern England has clocked the summer solstice over thousands of years.

The orange ball crested the northeast horizon behind the Heel Stone, the entrance to the stone circle, and shone its beam of light into the center of one of the world’s most famous prehistoric monuments.

The solstice is one of the few occasions each year when visitors are allowed to walk among the stones.

The crowd gatherd before dawn at the World Heritage Site to mark the start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, beating the heat during the U.K.’s first amber heat-health alert issued since September 2023.

About 25,000 sun devotees and other revelers, including druids, pagans, hippies, locals and tourists, showed up, according to English Heritage which operates the site.

— The Associated Press