A LOT of people probably went through Monday and hardly saw any difference to the day. It was however, the shortest day of the year and means that we are now on the path to summer once more.
The solstice is an event that occurs when the sun appears to reach its most northerly or southerly excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around June 21 and December 21. In many countries, the seasons of the year are determined by reference to the solstices and the equinoxes.
The word solstice is derived from the Latin sol (“sun”) and sistere (“to stand still”), because at the solstices, the sun’s declination appears to “stand still”; that is, the seasonal movement of the sun’s daily path (as seen from Earth) pauses at a northern or southern limit before reversing direction.
One of the more interesting occasions on the solstice happens at Stonehenge in the United Kingdom, constructed some 3,500 years ago where the positioning of the stones are aligned to direct the sun’s rays to appear on another stone in the array.
For us in Australia, it means our days will slowly get longer by a minute or two each day as we wind up the winter and start towards spring and summer …and hopefully a better year than this last one has been.
