Newgrange Captured Winter Solstice Sunlight

Every December 21, the rising sun illuminates the inner chamber of Newgrange, a prehistoric Irish monument that predates Stonehenge, for around 17 minutes. Built around 3200 B.C., the passage tomb is approximately 700 years older than Stonehenge and 600 years older than Egypt's oldest pyramid. Sunlight enters through a small aperture called the roof-box and travels 18 meters into the main chamber. In 1967, Irish archaeologist Michael O'Kelly rediscovered the roof-box and became the first person in roughly 5,000 years to witness the illumination, which a 1989 study concluded was a deliberate part of Newgrange's design.

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