Most southerly sun at solstice on December 21
Winter solstice sunrise in Shanghai, China. Photo: Laurence Shan
Friday, December 21, 2007
This December solstice comes at 6:08 Universal Time tomorrow.
That’s the middle of the night across the U.S. – Saturday evening in New Zealand – and tomorrow afternoon in Asia.
At this solstice, the sun reaches its southernmost point over the globe of Earth. Or you can flip your perspective and say the southern part of Earth is tilted most toward the sun. This is the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere and summer solstice in the southern hemisphere.
It’s the day of the sun’s southernmost path across the sky – a low sun for us in the United States – a high sun at Earth’s southerly latitudes. The December solstice is also sometimes called the “southern solstice.” For all of us, across the globe, the sun appears farthest south. At today’s solstice, the sun is so far south that every place south of the Antarctic Circle receives 24 hours of sunlight: the legendary midnight sun.
Meanwhile, north of the Arctic Circle, it’s a time of continuous night. No matter where you are between those two extremes, look for the sun to rise at its southernmost point on the eastern horizon, and sets at its southernmost point in the west.
The extreme southern December solstice sun ushers in the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere; whereas south of the equator, the solstice delivers the year’s longest day.
Our thanks today to Research Corporation, a foundation for the advancement of science.
