#sparkchamber 122120 — Winter Solstice ... the sun stands still

Today is the first day of astronomical winter — marked in the heavens by the winter solstice — and #sparkchamber brings you everything you need to know about the day, courtesy of The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

The winter solstice is the day with the fewest hours of sunlight in the whole year, making it the shortest day of the year. Starting tomorrow, the days begin to once again grow longer and longer until we reach the summer solstice — the first day of summer, the longest day of the year. So, although the winter solstice means the start of winter, it also means the return of more sunlight. Brighter days ahead!

The winter solstice occurs once a year in each hemisphere — in December in the Northern Hemisphere, June in the Southern Hemisphere — marking the start of each hemisphere’s winter season. When one hemisphere is experiencing their winter solstice, the other is simultaneously experiencing their summer solstice. This is all thanks to Earth’s tilted axis, which makes it so that one half of Earth is pointed away from the Sun and the other half is pointed towards it at the time of the solstice.

Today, we in the Northern Hemisphere are tilted as far away from the Sun as possible. From this vantage point, the Sun’s path across the sky is as low in the sky as it can be. You can observe the effects of the solstice with this experiment: today at noon, stand outside and look at your shadow. It’s the longest shadow that you’ll cast all year. [Do this again on the day of the summer solstice and you’ll see almost no shadow.]

The word solstice comes from the Latin sol meaning sun, and sistere meaning to stand still. Loosely translated, the sun stands still. Why? For a few days before and after the solstice, the Sun’s path across the sky appears to freeze. The change in its noontime elevation is so slight that the Sun’s path seems to stay the same.

But fear not. The journey never ends. Tomorrow, the Sun’s path begins to advance northward again … eventually reaching its most northerly point on the day of the summer solstice next June … when the path turns again toward the south. Whatever is going on in your earthly day-to-day, you can count on the stars to faithfully forward along on their never-ending cycle.

1.] Where do ideas come from?

The color of springtime is flowers; the color of winter is in our imaginations — Terri Guillemets

2.] What is the itch you are scratching?

People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy — Anton Chekhov

3.] Early bird or night owl? Tortoise or hare?

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn — Hal Borland

4.] How do you know when you are done?

We build statues out of snow, and weep to see them melt — Walter Scott