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The Winter Solstice The winter solstice occurs in 2019 on Saturday, December 21, at 8:20pm PST (04:20 UT Dec. 22), when the Sun enters the sign of Capricorn. This is considered the shortest day of the year for those north of the equator. It's the time when the Sun appears at its southernmost point in its path around the sky. At this time the Sun has the least amount of distance to travel from horizon to horizon, hence the shorter the day. Compare the distance traveled by winter Sun in the image below to the distance traveled by the summer Sun in this image. Solstice means "Sun stands still." The Sun's path stops shifting far south in the winter and stands still readying itself to move northward (vice versa in summer). The
Sun and Moon at the Winter Solstice The Paths of the Sun and Moon At the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere the Sun's annual path across the sky is at its lowest, or closest to the southern horizon, while the Moon's path is at its highest north. The Sun and Moon appear to reverse positions at the summer solstice with the Sun at its highest north and the Moon at it's lowest south. Image Within each month the Moon has a northern and southern range of moonrise / set points. It is at its highest one day and two weeks later at its lowest. It takes the Sun one year to accomplish this range of movement. This occurs because the Moon makes a full orbit around the Earth each month and follows a similar path across the sky that takes the Sun a year to complete.
Does the Sun always rise in the east? This photo by Anthony Ayiomamitis shows the wide swing of the rising Sun. In Athens, Greece the sunrise from southeast to northeast varies by more than 65 degrees. The Sun rises due east only at the time of the spring and autumn equinox. Sun's Seasonal Path Hmmm ... Why are there 4 shortest days?!?! Sunrise Sunset Calendars shows 4 shortest days for San Francisco for December 2019. The "Day length" of each shortest day is 9 hours and 33 minutes, December 20–23! This occurs because the declination of the Sun changes or varies only slightly during the solstices. The analemma, an unsymmetrical figure-8 shape of the Sun’s daily position at the same time, illustrates this concept with its flattening at both ends. The length of daylight (as measured in minutes) is pretty much the same for several days or more, both at the winter and also the summer solstice. If you were to do the calculations down to the exact second of time, then the shortest amount of daylight would coincide with the time of the solstice. Thank-you James Davis and Joe Rao / SPACE.com Skywatching Columnist for these valued insights.
Spiritual Significance of the Winter Solstice Global Meditations ~ December Solstice There are a variety of solstice global meditations occurring at various times during the day. Participate in one or more of these meditations to strengthen the Light Grid of planet Earth. Those living in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are participating in December's solstice meditations. Solstice
Exact: Saturday, December 21, 2019 Planetary
Solstice Meditation The Spiritual
Hierarchy enters meditation in
Winter
Solstice This
year's Winter Solstice has great significance.
Global
Silent Minute Align with the Forces of Light. See the Video.
December
2019 Global Solstice Meditation A 30-min.
recording includes a 15-min.
New
Group of World Servers Festival This
week long observation occurs every 7
Global
Solstice Meditation This
is a beautiful meditation that
Worldwide
Didgeridoo Meditation This
a worldwide link-up of people supporting
Current and Ongoing Global Meditations
I'd
like to know your thoughts about The Night Sky ... |