“Why is the Winter Solstice Called 'the Winter Solstice;' and What's it All About, Anyway?”

Scheduled air date: 2005 Dec 12-18

Winter officially begins in the Northern Hemisphere (and Summer for the Southern Hemisphere) on Wednesday, December 21 at 1:35 PM EST/10:35 AM PST.
The Sun's position is shown for sunrise followed by one-hour intervals for the Summer Solstice (June 20~22*), the Equinoxes (March 20~22* and September 20~22*) and Winter Solstice (December 20~22*).
*The exact dates vary slightly each year due to the difference in length of  our calendar year and the actual time required for the Earth to make one revolution around the Sun.

At this time, the Sun's path across the sky is at its lowest, or closest to the southern horizon, while the Moon's path is at its highest.

For comparison, the above shows the paths of the Sun and Moon across the sky at Summer Solstice—the beginning of Summer (June 21st). Note that, relative to Winter Solstice, the Sun and Moon appear to have switched places.
(Positions shown at one-hour intervals for mid-Northern latitudes. The Moon's symbol in the above illustrations is intended to show the Moon's path and not its phase.)

If you wish to view illustrations for other episodes, please see our Star Gazer Illustrated directory.

Illustrations on this page were created using TheSky6 Astronomy Software, an advanced desktop planetarium program designed for Windows 98, NT, 2000, Me and XP. Copyright © 1999-2005 by Software Bisque, Inc.