From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The
winter solstice
is the time when the sun has the biggest distance to the Tropic of Cancer. After this, the sun is going to move to back in the direction of the equator.
The
Earth
revolves around the
Sun
. The sunlight reaches the Earth at an angle. On each day of the year, the sun will be
perpendicular
at a given
latitude
. At the start of
spring
and at the start of
autumn
it passes over the
equator
. On the June Solstice it is over the
Tropic of Cancer
, at 23.5 degrees north. In the
Northern Hemisphere
this is the longest day of the year, which has the shortest night and is called the
Summer Solstice
. In the
Southern Hemisphere
this is the shortest day of the year, which has the longest night and is called the
Winter Solstice
. On the December Solstice it is over the
Tropic of Capricorn
, at 23.5 degrees south. In the Southern Hemisphere this is the longest day of the year, which has the shortest night and is called the
Summer Solstice
. In the Northern Hemisphere this is the shortest day of the year, which has the longest night and is called the
Winter Solstice
.
For the northern hemisphere, the Winter solstice is around
21 December
. This means that the sun is at the southern tropic. For the southern Hemisphere, the winter solstice is around
21 June
. This means that the sun is at the northern tropic.
[1]
The word solstice comes from
Latin
Sol
(sun) and
sistere
(to not move), winter solstice meaning Sun standstill in winter.
The earth prone and moves in an
elliptic
way around the sun. Because of this, the point from where the sun is shining moves between the
Tropic of Capricorn
and the
Tropic of Cancer
.
The winter solstice is celebrated around 21 December since 1582, when
Pope Gregory XIII
introduced the
Gregorian calendar
.
[2]