Mon 21 Dec 2009
Winter Solstice – the day the sun stopped (well not really)
Posted by Nicole under Fun and Games, News & Events
1 Comment
Today, December 21st, marks the winter solstice, the day when we have more hours of darkness than light than any other day – also referred to as the shortest day of the year, even though we still have all 24 hours.
The word solstice means “sun stop” and while the sun does not actually stop, this does mark the day when we start to have more daylight.
The Journey Northwebsite has a great graphic that explains the winter solstice and where we’re at astronomically at this interesting point in the year and wikipedia has some great information on the winter solstice generally as well as how it has been recognized in different cultures.
If you’re doing a photo journal of nature through the seasons, today is the day to go back out to your special nature spot and take a photo from the same spot (and of the same landscape or other natural element) that you did during the fall equinox.
Hi Nicole, Thanks for your post about the solstice. I want to share one of my favorite trivia: At our latitude, the earliest sunset occurs 2 weeks before the solstice, and the latest sunrise occurs 2 wks after. Caused by our orbit being slightly elliptical; we go ’round the sun faster in the winter. So I tell myself to feel better about seasonal affective disorder on Dec. 8th, with the later sunsets!!