Image Credit: SPA
Dubai: The winter solstice, signaling the shortest day and longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, occurred on Saturday, December 21, at precisely 12:20 pm Mecca time. The event, when the sun shines directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, officially marks the beginning of astronomical winter.
This celestial phenomenon ushers in colder months for the north and also heralds summer in the Southern Hemisphere, lasting approximately 89 days.
Majed Abu Zahra, head of the Astronomical Society in Jeddah, attributed the solstice to Earth’s axial tilt of 23.5 degrees and its orbit around the sun. “The tilt, not the Earth’s distance from the sun, is what drives the changing seasons,” Abu Zahra said.
As the Northern Hemisphere tilts away from the sun, daylight hours become shorter, while the Southern Hemisphere enjoys extended daylight. “Today, locations north of the equator experience less than 12 hours of daylight, while areas south of the equator have days exceeding 12 hours,” he added.
The solstice brings dramatic contrasts near the poles. In the Arctic Circle, the sun remains below the horizon all day, plunging the region into continuous darkness, while the Antarctic Circle basks in 24 hours of daylight, a phenomenon known as the “midnight sun.”
“This is a clear demonstration of Earth’s spherical shape,” Abu Zahra noted.
The winter solstice is marked by delayed sunrises and early sunsets, with the sun tracing its lowest arc across the sky. “Shadows at noon are at their longest of the year,” Abu Zahra observed.
In the days following the solstice, the sun will gradually shift northward, bringing longer daylight hours. This progression will culminate in the spring equinox on March 20, 2025, when day and night will be equal in length.
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