I was hoping to get to this post sooner, but the day just got away from me.
Today seemed unusually short. That's because it IS the shortest day of the year.
And soon, very soon, the days in the northern hemisphere will start to get longer.
Our part of the globe will be as far away from the sun as possible at 6:38 p.m. this evening according to TimeandDate.com. After that, the northern hemisphere starts inching closer and closer to the sun as the days get longer. Here's how TimeandDate.com explains the soltice.
The December solstice occurs when the sun reaches its most southerly declination of -23.5 degrees. In other words, it is when the North Pole is tilted 23.5 degrees away from the sun. Depending on the Gregorian calendar, the December solstice occurs annually on a day between December 20 and December 23. On this date, all places above a latitude of 66.5 degrees north are now in darkness, while locations below a latitude of 66.5 degrees south receive 24 hours of daylight.
This solstice was made special by happening at the same time as a lunar eclipse. The first time that's happened since 1638 according to NASA.
Welcome to the official start of winter!
