Thousands flock to Stonehenge for ‘mildest’ Winter Solstice

Because oceans and land take a long time to cool down and warm up, winter’s coldest days usually occur after the Winter Solstice while summer’s hottest days usually happen after the Summer Solstice. The shortest day of the year – and the first day of winter – occurred in the Northern Hemisphere during the late hours of December 21 and the early hours of December 22, depending on where you live.

The Winter Solstice for the year 2015 officially arrived at 10:48 p.m. on Monday in Chicago, and it marks the beginning of the winter season.

While in south east Asia families gather together to celebrate the Dongzhi Festival – one of the most important celebrations of the year in countries including China, Vietnam, Taiwan and Korea.

NASA officials attribute the Earth’s tilted axis to a probable result of collisions with various proto-planets and other massive objects during the formation of the solar system.

The solstice and also the changing seasons on the globe are caused by Earth’s tilt of 23.5 degrees.

This year’s solstice was at 4.49am, and t he sun rose over Stonehenge at 8.04am.

As it happens, in Boulder on the solstice, it turns out daylight lasts about 9 hours and 20 minutes today. The winter solstice occurs when Earth is leaning furthest from the sun – it is positioned so the sun stays below the North Pole horizon.

Here’s a slider which compares winter solstice this year to five years ago…

The word “solstice” is derived from the Latin word “solstitium”, which loosely translated means “the sun stands still”. The solstice means the sun has reached its southernmost point in the sky.

While we say that it’s the “shortest day” we’re not saying that the hours in a day are somehow lost. They built monuments, Stonehenge among the most famous, to track the sun’s path and celebrated when it aligned with the stones in a particular way.

Well, this question arises here because India lies in the Northern Hemisphere. In Europe, Africa and Asia, the time difference puts the solstice into the next day, December 22. You can still celebrate the solstice, a major pagan ritual, these days.