Winter Solstice

xmetman

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Dec 21, 2017, 11:28:14 AM12/21/17

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The Winter solstice will occur in just a few minutes at 1628 UTC and spring is just around the corner!

Len W

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Dec 21, 2017, 1:14:03 PM12/21/17

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But it's the start of the astronomical winter!

xmetman

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Dec 21, 2017, 2:32:40 PM12/21/17

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Yes, that's the curious thing on midwinters day...

Jack Harrison

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Dec 22, 2017, 1:34:59 PM12/22/17

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The sun was distinctly higher in the sky today, 22nd:-)

But still the darkest morning to come although the sunset is already 2 minutes later than it was a week ago.

Jack

Trevor Harley

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Dec 22, 2017, 2:36:32 PM12/22/17

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I relished my three seconds additional light today.

Jack Harrison

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Dec 22, 2017, 2:41:25 PM12/22/17

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Trevor...relished [his] three seconds additional light today.

Is that three seconds a number plucked out the blue (for effect) or is there some data with that level of precision? Sources like Heavens-Above have precision to only the minute.

Jack

Colin Youngs

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Dec 22, 2017, 3:26:48 PM12/22/17

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https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/uk/aberdeen

See daylength difference for 22nd December.

Colin Youngs

Brussels

Jack Harrison

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Dec 22, 2017, 3:36:46 PM12/22/17

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Thanks Colin. I have set Inverness as being more appropriate. I will get another 11 seconds tomorrow!!!!!

Jack

Colin Youngs

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Dec 22, 2017, 6:31:43 PM12/22/17

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I notice that daylight in Brussels today (Friday) was ONE second longer than yesterday. I must say it disappeared into the grey gloom ...

https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/belgium/brussels

Colin Youngs

Brussels

Trevor Harley

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Dec 23, 2017, 4:15:24 AM12/23/17

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Sadly, because of the equation of time, sunrise will continue to get a little bit later, although sunset will get later at a very slightly faster rate.

Jack Harrison

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Dec 23, 2017, 5:18:37 AM12/23/17

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I understood Equation of Time more than 70 years ago but at that age, although I knew the reasons why the earliest sunset was not on the shortest day, I couldn’t manage to explain to my mother.

I must have been a great irritation to Mum; she was very smart but with little education. But she did want to learn from her son! Dad meanwhile was a newspaper reporter and writing such pearls as “it was so cold in the Norfolk Broads that the water froze from the bottom upwards”. Oh dear.

I was forever bombarding Mum with questions: “Why is the sun red when it sets?” and “Where does the wind go?” One I remember well was a solar eclipse in July 1945 (I was 6 ½ at the time). I appreciated perfectly well how an eclipse occurred but even so, when it was over, I actually burst into tears! But I stumped Mum when I asked: “Why can’t I see the Moon now?”