The winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, arrives Thursday night

According to timeanddate.com, in rare cases, the summer solstice can occur as early as December 20 and as late as December 23. To avoid confusion between different time zones, the official time for the summer solstice is based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which is five hours ahead of Eastern Time. By this standard, the summer solstice on December 23 last occurred more than a century ago in 1903, and will not occur again until 2303. The summer solstice on December 20 will occur earlier, in 2080.

What is the significance of the winter solstice?

The December solstice marks the beginning of astronomical winter in the Northern Hemisphere. During the summer solstice, the sun appears directly above the Tropic of Capricorn at noon (the latitude 23.5 degrees south of the Earth’s equator). This is the southernmost point (90 degrees above the horizon) from which you can look directly overhead at the Sun.

In the Northern Hemisphere, we see the Sun taking its lowest and shortest path across the southern sky. Assuming clear skies, the low sun angle means you’ll cast the longest midday shadow of the year on the winter solstice.

The word solstice comes from the Latin word solstitium, which means that the sun stands still. On the December solstice, the sun’s daily southward movement across the sky appears to pause, with the sun rising and setting at its southernmost point on the horizon. After the summer solstice, the positions of sunrise and sunset move north again, and we begin to slowly welcome the daylight.

Why do we have a summer solstice?

Solstices and seasons occur because the Earth does not orbit the Sun perfectly vertically. Instead, the Earth’s axis is tilted about 23.5 degrees from vertical, which causes each hemisphere to receive different amounts of sunlight throughout the year.

In December, the Northern Hemisphere tilts away from the sun, giving us less direct sunlight and cooler weather. Meanwhile, in the Southern Hemisphere, December 21 marks the first day of astronomical summer and the longest day of the year. Halfway between the winter and summer solstice are the equinoxes, when the length of day and night are nearly equal everywhere on Earth.

Although the winter solstice is often referred to as the first day of winter, there are different ways to define the start and end dates of the season. December 21 is the first day of astronomical winter in the Northern Hemisphere, which lasts until the March equinox. However, meteorological winter coincides with the three coldest months of the year, lasting from December 1 to the end of February.

Solar winter is defined as the three darkest months of the year, starting in early November and lasting until early February. Many ancient cultures considered the winter solstice to be midwinter because it occurred in the middle of the darkest quarter of the year.

What is the shortest daytime of the year?

this Minimum daylight The winter solstice is always the time of year in the northern hemisphere. However, the earliest sunset and the latest sunrise of the year do not occur on the same day. On December 21, the daylight hours in Washington, D.C. were 9 hours and 26 minutes (sunrise at 7:23 am, sunset at 4:49 pm). However, the earliest sunset is at 4:45 pm on December 7, and the latest sunrise is at 7:27 am on January 5.

The exact dates of earliest sunset and latest sunrise depend on your latitude. In much of the Lower 48, the earliest sunset and latest sunrise occur about two weeks before and after the summer solstice. Close to the Arctic Circle, the earliest sunset and latest sunrise occur on or near December 21st.

When do the days start getting longer?

Like a swinging pendulum, daylight begins to increase once you pass the summer solstice, although you may not notice it at first. According to timeanddate.com, DC lost less than a second of daylight on December 22 but gained 4 seconds of daylight on December 23. By early January, daylight increases by more than 30 seconds per day.

Cities at high latitudes near the North Pole begin to receive sunlight more quickly. In Anchorage, daylight begins to increase by more than two minutes per day during the first week of January.

How is the Winter Solstice celebrated?

Throughout history, humans have celebrated the winter solstice with rituals such as bonfires and ritual dances to mark the passing of the season. The ancient Romans held a week-long pagan festival called Saturnalia around December 17 to commemorate the god of time and agriculture and celebrate the return of the sun’s rays.

The modern connection between Christmas and Yule comes from the Norwegian jl, Pre-Christian winter solstice festival held in Scandinavia. According to timeanddate.com, the custom of lighting the Yule log at Christmas is thought to have originated from the bonfires associated with the Feast of Juul.

Many prehistoric monuments and landmarks were built around the world to mark the sun’s changing path across the sky. Built over 5,000 years ago in modern-day Britain, Stonehenge is perhaps the most famous of these prehistoric landmarks. Some historians say the large circle of freestanding stones once served as a solar calendar used to track the seasons. Today, thousands of people gather at Stonehenge each year to celebrate the summer solstice, spring equinox and the changing of the seasons.