The Winter Solstice occurs officially at 12:08 a.m. CST Saturday morning. It marks the start of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. The Winter Solstice marks the day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere when the sun is the furthest south in the sky. This occurs because the Earth’s equator is at its maximum tilt. The other day of maximum tilt is the Summer Solstice.
The word solstice is taken from the Latin sol for sun and sistere, which means to stand still. The sun literally stands still today in its travel southward in the sky. It will now start moving back to the north.
It is the day of shortest daylight, with the shortest amount of time between sunrise and sunset. Interestingly enough, it is not the day with the latest sunrise or the earliest sunset. Because the Earth’s orbit is elliptical and because there are variations in the equator’s orientation, astronomers have to use a complex series of equations to account for the differences. These equations make the days prior to the solstice longer than twenty four hours, making days about thirty seconds longer in terms of sunrise and sunset time.
Because of these equations, the earliest sunset actually occurs in early December when the equations begin working against the declination of the sun to push the sunsets later. In addition, the latest sunrise doesn’t come until early January, when the equations begin working together with the rising Sun declination to push the sunrises earlier and earlier.
