In the Northern hemisphere, this day is the shortest of the year
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Today on the territory of Eurasia, North America and most of Africa came the shortest day in the current year, followed by the longest of the year night. In Australia and South America today, in contrast, will be the longest. This astronomical event called winter solstice and it marks the start of “astronomical winter” in the Northern hemisphere of the Earth and “astronomical summer” in the South.
photo: pixabay.com
the Winter solstice is an astronomical phenomenon in which the tilt of the Earth’s rotation axis in the direction from the Sun takes the highest value. In different years this astronomical event can fall on either 21 or 22 December is the result of the same “errors” which every fourth year on Earth is declared a leap year.
At the South pole the Sun today do not come over the horizon, and on the North — does not appear because of him throughout the day.
the Winter solstice — as, indeed, and summer — has played a big role in many pagan cultures, often seen as a symbol of rebirth after the days start to get longer and longer. The relevant parties were not always strictly bound to the shortest day from the astronomical point of view, however, was dedicated to this phenomenon.
About the significance of the winter solstice shows, including, the design of many ancient archaeological sites — for example, the main axis of Stonehenge in the UK is aligned with the visual line indicates the sunset at the winter solstice. In the Slavic tradition with the winter solstice is linked to the Christmas carols, the Germanic peoples — Yule, and in Ancient Rome for this event was to mark the “birthday of the invincible sun”. In Greek mythology, the days of the summer and winter solstice was only in the year that Hades was allowed to leave the underworld and appearing on mount Olympus.
the longest night this year will have another astronomical event — a maximum of a meteor shower of Urside. To see it, you will need to look at the constellation URSA Minor. It’s not the brightest star of the year — an hour in the night sky will appear only about 10 “shooting stars”. However, recent more intense starbursts — the Leonids and Geminids — occurred in November and December of SUPERLINE, so even the clear sky to observe them failed because of too bright light full and close to Earth of the moon. In the case of Ursidae such problems will not arise.
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