Winter Solstice
Mini Fact: The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year.
As the temperatures get colder this season, have you noticed that the days seem shorter and that the darkness creeps in earlier? Today The Mini Page takes a look at the winter solstice.
Sun’s path
The winter solstice takes place in the Northern Hemisphere, or top half of Earth, around Dec. 21, depending on the year. The winter solstice marks the lengthening of days and the shortening of nights. “Solstice” comes from the Latin words “sol,” which means “sun,” and
“sistere,” which means “to stand still.” So “solstice” translates to something close to “sun standing still.”
Earth rotates on an axis that is tilted. During winter solstice, the axis is tilted away from the sun, making it appear to people in the Northern Hemisphere to be at its lowest point in the sky. The North Pole is aimed farthest from the sun, and the sun shines over the Tropic of Capricorn, an imaginary circle around the Earth south of the equator.
Since the sun takes a very short route through the sky that day, there are fewer hours of daylight, which means the night is longer. After the winter solstice, days become longer, which continues until the summer solstice in June.
While the countries in the Northern Hemisphere celebrate winter solstice in December, the Southern Hemisphere observes it in June because those countries are below the equator, and the seasons are reversed based on hemisphere.
Astronomical winter
The winter solstice is the beginning of astronomical winter. Some people believe this should be the coldest day of the year since we see the least amount of sunlight, but this is a myth, or false idea that a lot of people believe. The coldest day of the year usually takes place weeks later, depending on where someone lives, since it takes time for the water and land to lower in temperature.
Shadows
The sun is lowest at noon during the winter solstice, so people who take a look at their shadows on the ground at that exact time might notice that their noon time shadows seem longer than they do on any other day of the year. And they’re right! Due to the location of the sun, shadows lengthen.