Winter Solstice 2023: Longest night, shortest day - Why does it happen?

The year 2023’s shortest day is yet to occur. The day is known as winter solstice or hibernal solstice which generally occurs in December in the northern hemisphere of Earth. It marks the 24-hour period with the fewest daylight hours of the year. Thus it is known as the shortest day of the year, or the longest night of the year.

Winter solstice occurs when either of Earth’s poles reaches its maximum tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once each in the Northern and Southern hemisphere.

What is winter solstice?

Just like the Earth is tilted on its axis, the arc the Sun also moves through during the day and rise and fall across the year as the Earth’s pole points either towards or away from the Sun.

The winter solstice occurs at the minimum point for the northern hemisphere, where the Sun is lowest in the sky. At this time, the Earth’s North Pole is pointing away from the Sun, which is why it is so much colder in the northern hemisphere.

While in the southern hemisphere, the South Pole is pointing towards the Sun, making it comparatively warmer.

What does ‘solstice’ mean?

The word ‘solstice’ comes from the Latin word ‘solsititum’ which means ‘Sun stands still’. This is because the apparent movement of the Sun’s path north or south stops before changing direction.

When is winter solstice?

The actual moment of winter solstice will occur on December 22 at approximately 3:37 UTC. On this day, the Sun will be overhead at noon as viewed from the Tropic of Capricorn. The shortest day lasts 7 hours 49 minutes and 42 seconds in London. After winter solstice, the sun will move north again.

After the shortest day, the days start getting longer and the nights shorter. At the spring and autumnal equinoxes and day and night hours are around the same length, each lasting around 12 hours. The number of daylight hours peak at summer solstice.

(With inputs from agencies)

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