Happy Winter Solstice 2008
At 12:04 UTC tomorrow (21st December) we reach the winter solstice. This is the point in our annual perambulation around the Sun when our local star appears the furthest south in the sky. This will be the day with the shortest amount of daylight for people in the northern hemisphere and the longest for those in the southern hemisphere. It is perhaps quite interesting to note that although the day is the shortest for those of us in the UK, the earliest sunset was back on 13th December and the latest sunrise will be around 29/30th December.
This year, if you have Windows Media Player and assuming it isn't cloudy, you can watch live streaming of the winter solstice from Newgrange between 08:30 UTC and 09:30 UTC. Newgrange is 5000 year old Neolithic passage tomb that was specifically designed so that at dawn on the days around the winter solstice sunlight would penetrate into the inner chamber. If you want an idea of what to expect, you can watch the video from 2007.
Of course we shouldn't forget the reason for the season. It is all due to the wonderful 23.5 degree tilt of the Earth's rotation axis relative to our orbit around the Sun. Life on Earth would be quite different without it.
Happy Solstice everyone.
Comments: Happy Winter Solstice 2008
Thanks for pointing out the real reason for the season. I said the same thing on a bulletin board where people were debating the non-issue of which greeting is better, "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays," and some right wing fundie called me a terrorist and a godless liberal! Luckily he/she has never run into me with my button stating "The Solstice is the reason for the season."
Posted by Laurel Kornfeld on Saturday 27th Dec 2008 (19:00 UTC)