Winter Solstice
Winter Solstice is when. . . because of the earth's tilt, your hemisphere is leaning farthest away from the sun, and therefore:
The daylight is the shortest.
The sun has its lowest arc in the sky.
Longest Night of the Year
Are you afraid of the dark? If so, then December 21, 2005 is not the day for you.
The sun appears at its lowest point in the sky, and its noontime elevation appears to be the same for several days before and after the solstice.
The origin of the word Solstice comes from Latin Solstitium, from sol, "sun" and stitium, "a stoppage". Following the winter solstice, the days begin to grow longer and the nights shorter.
This year December 21 is the Northern Hemisphere's winter solstice, the shortest day—and longest night—of the year.
The length of days changes throughout the year. In the summer, the sun often sets after 9 p.m. In the winter, it may already be dark as you head home from school or work. Here in
Day length varies because of the Earth's tilt.
The Earth travels around the sun. But the Earth does not orbit with the North Pole at the top and the South Pole at the bottom. Instead, the Earth is tilted slightly. Because the Earth is tilted, different parts of the Earth face the sun at different times of year.
If short days and long nights give you the blues, don't worry. After the winter solstice, each day gets a little longer.
This shot is looking North past the Fed-Ex terminal where they are loading all the toys for good girls and boys.
I wanted to show some of what it is like here during the Solstice so I took a camera out to the airport to a project my company has recently completed. I was there in the early morning hours (9 am) to inspect a few pieces of equipment on the roof. It was still dark as the official daybreak would be 10:15 am. We were in that time of first light as the day dawns and on this day it was glorious.
I took several pictures where I turned slightly each time while turning in a circle. It was dark to the West and North and the clouds above made for the most interesting sight.
This one with the telephoto lens was looking Northeast over the buildings downtown several miles away with the Chugach Mountains in the background.
I found it interesting that tonight on television the movie “City of
There are scenes several times where the sunsets or sunrises play into the movie. These were like some in this movie. Here I was on the roof of this building almost like the angels in the movie. Who knew?
I look forward to our gains in daylight over the next few months and the return to another season of fishing.
I hope you enjoyed the photos.
Ice
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