December 21, 2016 – The Winter Solstice. Winter “officially” begins! The sun’s rays will be directly over the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere. It marks the day of the year with the least hours of daylight in the northern hemisphere. Solstices occur twice a year — when the sun reaches the highest point in the sky (Summer), and when the sun is at its lowest point in the sky (Winter).
*The “shortest” days and longest “nights” this year (2016) will be on Dec 20th and Dec 22nd due to the earth’s orbit and “wobble.”
Here is a link to the countdown clock to the 2016 Solstice: http://www.officialcountdown.com/winter/index.html
According to Jim Hurley, a physicist disguised as the head of the Lake Vera-Round Mountain home owners association:
Cheer up. Things are about the turn. This is the winter solstice. While the longest night of the year, it is also the time when the days begin to lengthen—unless you’re Australian.
In case anyone should ask, here is where you are in space-time:
Space:
Latitude: 39.29, Longitude: -121.03
Earth, presently tilted a maximum of 23.5 degrees away from Sol
Third planet out in Sol’s solar system and the wonder of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Time:
Dec. 21, 2016, the winter solstice. Earth will now begin to tilt back toward Sol—why did we ever turn away?