By the time you read this, you will have already missed the Winter Solstice which occurred at 4:44 a.m. Central Time on the day this issue of YTW came out. If the day appeared to pass quickly, it is well known as the shortest day of the year for good reason; December 21st has 7 hours and 53 minutes of daylight, 8 hours, 43 minutes less than June 21st had. It’s like we’re being short-changed an entire day... and at Christmas, of all times. For the next 3 months, the Sun will be shining on us from below the equator, sitting 23.5 degrees south over top of the Tropic of Cancer, a line found overhead in northern Argentina, South Africa and central Australia. This is why December 21st is the Summer Solstice in those countries, and why they’re warm and we’re not. The Sun’s low angle makes your shadow the longest for the year on the Winter Solstice, and the further north you go, the longer it gets. If you can think of a single practical use for knowing your shadow’s length, please let me know.
On the Solstice this year, the Sunrise is at 8:50 a.m., and sunset at 4:43 p.m. The word ‘Solstice’ comes from the Old French / Latin ‘solstitium’, roughly translated as ‘the day the Sun stands still’. After the Solstitium, the Sun rises and sets a little further north each day. For those of you who complain that it gets dark so soon in the evening, it’s time you stopped. Although the Solstice has the fewest hours of daylight, the earliest sunset already happened at 4:42 p.m. on the 10th or 11th. Sunset is already a whole 3 minutes later. However, on the other end, you can keep grumbling for a while yet: the latest sunrise doesn’t happen until 8:54 a.m. on December 30th. By the way, the Earth reaches its closest point to the Sun for the year (perihelion) at 8:17 a.m. on January 4th. Illogical while the temperature are where they are, but true. Finally, if you find yourself out in the back yard measuring your shadow or double-checking my Solstice numbers, a scan of the sky will reveal a nice selection of ‘Star of the East’ candidates for the holiday season. Planet Venus hangs in the south-southwest earlier in the evening, and the sky’s second brightest star, Canopus, rises in the east just before 8 p.m. followed by the brightest star in the sky, Sirius, just before 9. Such is the math of the Solstice, undoubtedly invented by ancient astronomers simply because it’s too darned cold to do anything else.
To me, the Solstice is a sign that days are officially getting longer, and spring is closer than it was last week, inviting us to enjoy the winter while it lasts, here in our own back yard.
