Winter is coming. In the present day, in actual fact!
Every December, the winter solstice marks the official begin of astronomical winter within the Northern Hemisphere and the shortest day of the yr. This yr, the winter solstice happens at this time, which signifies that from right here on out, every day can be longer than the final for the subsequent six months.
The winter solstice happens on Wednesday (Dec. 21) at 4:48 p.m. EST (2148 GMT), according to Farmer’s Almanac (opens in new tab). For these of us within the Northern Hemisphere, the times will regularly start to get longer and the nights shorter going ahead into winter. The sun will start rising later and setting earlier, and can seem decrease within the sky at native midday. The truth is, if you may make it exterior round midday native time at this time, check out your shadow; it must be the longest noontime shadow of the yr as a result of low angle of the sun.Â
Associated: When is the Winter Solstice and what happens?
Seasons on Earth happen not due to our distance from the sun, however due to the planet’s tilt. The truth is, Earth’s perihelion, or closest distance to the sun, comes in the course of the Northern Hemisphere’s winter. In 2023, it’s going to fall on Jan. 4, in keeping with In-The-Sky.org (opens in new tab).
The winter and summer solstices happen as a result of Earth is tilted 23.5 levels on its axis, and the second of every solstice happens when the axis is tilted within the route of the sun. In the course of the winter solstice, South Pole is tilted in direction of the sun, and in the course of the summer time solstice in June, the North Pole is tilted in direction of the sun.Â
In the course of the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, the Earth’s axis is perpendicular to the sun, not tilted in direction of it. (This tilt is why we expertise seasons, and why the seasons are flipped within the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.)
In the course of the winter solstice, the sun reaches the southernmost level within the sky from the angle of Earth — at midday, the sun will seem immediately overhead of the Tropic of Capricorn, at 23.5 levels south.Â
At midday within the Northern Hemisphere, the sun will seem at its lowest level within the sky in comparison with the place it’s at midday all through the remainder of the yr, which is why this marks the shortest day of 2022 within the Northern Hemisphere. Within the Southern Hemisphere, nonetheless, will probably be the longest day of 2022.
Midwinter festivals have lengthy been celebrated on the winter solstice every year by present and historical cultures. The truth is, many components of the Christmas vacation have been influenced by the Roman pagan midwinter competition Saturnalia, which celebrated the god of agriculture and time and fell close to the winter solstice every year.
According to History.com (opens in new tab), the winter solstice fell on Dec. 25 on the Julian calendar, which was utilized by the Historical Romans; at this time we use the Gregorian calendar, which has the winter solstice fall on both Dec. 21 or Dec. 22. Â
Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab). Â
