The mysterious winter solstice

Today is the shortest day of the year, and it is called the winter solstice. It occurs because it is the time that for those of us who live in the northern hemisphere, which means the northern part of the globe, when our part of the earth is farthest from the sun. This is part of the seasonal cycle. In the summer our part of the earth is the closest to the sun and the summer solstice is when we have the longest day of the year. The summer solstice is June 20, while the winter solstice is 6 months later, on December 21. As you might know, the seasons are caused by the tilting of the earth. Summer occurs when Waukegan is closer to the sun and winter occurs when our community is farther from the sun. The farther north on the globe a location is, the shorter the days in the winter and also the longer the days in summer. The length of daylight today is about 9 hours, 7 minutes and 45 seconds in Waukegan, which is the shortest time all year. In the arctic in Alaska or Russia, there is no daylight at all today in some places. Meanwhile in the southern hemisphere, in Argentina, Chile or Australia, today is the summer solstice because seasons are reversed south of the equator. For places that are directly on the equator, such as Singapore, there is no real difference in daylight and there are no seasons. It is always summer and tropical in places right on the equator.

In ancient times many people believed that the winter and summer solstices had an important religious significance. For example in ancient Rome, there was a seven day festival called Saturnalia that took place at this time. Similarly in other parts of Europe and Asia there are festivals and religious ceremonies to commemorate the shortest day of the year, including at the ancient Neolithic shrine of Stonehenge in England, which was constructed to show the seasons and solstices.

Tonight there will be an additional astronomical treat, the Christmas star. Once in a very long time, the last time in the year 1227, Jupiter and Saturn will be so close that they will appear to be a single, bright planet. This is called the Christmas Star and it is very rare. (like once every 800 years!) Tonight along with the winter solstice there will also be the Christmas star, which is a symbol of hope after a pretty bad 2020.