STEM News Tip: Winter Solstice 2020
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- Published: Saturday, 19 December 2020 09:00
The solstice is coming! As many of us are very ready to say goodbye to 2020, we in the northern hemisphere will have the shortest of its days (while our southern hemisphere friends will have the longest). The official moment of the solstice will come at 5:02AM Monday morning, December 21.
The winter solstice is the point at which the Earth's axis of rotation is pointed farthest away from the sun for this hemisphere, and thus the other hemisphere is pointed closest to the sun for their summer solstice. It's traditionally been called but the first day of winter, and midwinter day, contradictorilly; but in terms of winter weather, we've certainly already had some for a few days now! It's long been an event marked by festivities, as we mentioned in our previous blogpost.
Also, for this weekend and through the solstice, keep an eye out for the Ursid meteors, which typically are at their peak this time of year. Read more about them at Earth&Sky.