UT date and time of
equinoxes and solstices on Earth[1][2]
event equinox solstice equinox solstice
month March[3] June[4] September[5] December[6]
year day time day time day time day time
2019 20 21:58 21 15:54 23 07:50 22 04:19
2020 20 03:50 20 21:43 22 13:31 21 10:03
2021 20 09:37 21 03:32 22 19:21 21 15:59
2022 20 15:33 21 09:14 23 01:04 21 21:48
2023 20 21:25 21 14:58 23 06:50 22 03:28
2024 20 03:07 20 20:51 22 12:44 21 09:20
2025 20 09:02 21 02:42 22 18:20 21 15:03
2026 20 14:46 21 08:25 23 00:06 21 20:50
2027 20 20:25 21 14:11 23 06:02 22 02:43
2028 20 02:17 20 20:02 22 11:45 21 08:20
2029 20 08:01 21 01:48 22 17:37 21 14:14

The December solstice, also known as the southern solstice, is the solstice that occurs each December – typically on 21 December, but may vary by one day in either direction according to the Gregorian calendar. In the Northern Hemisphere, the December solstice is the winter solstice (the day with the shortest period of daylight), whilst in the Southern Hemisphere it is the summer solstice (the day with the longest period of daylight). During December solstice, the Sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, located in the Southern Hemisphere.

Illumination of Earth by the Sun on the day of the December solstice

The solstice also marks the changing of seasons in many countries. 21 December is the first day of winter (in the Northern Hemisphere) and the first day of summer (in the Southern Hemisphere).

Solar year

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The December-solstice solar year is the solar year based on the December solstice. It is thus the length of time between adjacent December solstices.

The length of the December-solstice year has been relatively stable between 6000 BC and AD 2000, in the range of 49 minutes 30 seconds to 50 minutes in excess of 365 days 5 hours. This is longer than the mean year of the Gregorian calendar, which has an excess time of 49 minutes and 12 seconds. Since 2000, it has been growing shorter. In 4000, the excess time will be 48 minutes 52 seconds, and, in 10000, 46 minutes 45 seconds.[7]

The length of the day near the December solstice

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The following tables contain information on the length of the day on December 22nd, close to the winter solstice of the Northern Hemisphere and the summer solstice of the Southern Hemisphere (i.e. December solstice). The data was collected from the website of the Finnish Meteorological Institute on 22 December 2015, as well as from certain other websites.[8][9][10][11][12][13]

The data is arranged geographically and within the tables from the shortest day to the longest one.

The Nordic countries, Russia, and the Baltic states
City Sunrise
21 Dec 2022
Sunset
21 Dec 2022
Length of the day
  Murmansk 0 min
  Apatity 0 min
  Bodø 11:35 12:24 49 min
  Rovaniemi 11:07 13:22 2 h 15 min
  Luleå 9:54 13:03 3 h 9 min
  Reykjavík 11:21 15:29 4 h 8 min
  Trondheim 10:01 14:31 4 h 30 min
  Tórshavn 9:50 14:59 5 h 9 min
  Helsinki 9:23 15:12 5 h 49 min
  Oslo 9:17 15:11 5 h 54 min
  Tallinn 9:17 15:20 6 h 3 min
  Stockholm 8:43 14:47 6 h 4 min
  Riga 8:59 15:43 6 h 44 min
  Copenhagen 8:36 15:38 7 h 2 min
  Vilnius 8:39 15:53 7 h 14 min
Europe
City Sunrise
22 Dec 2015
Sunset
22 Dec 2015
Length of the day
  Saint Petersburg 10:00 15:53 5 h 53 min
  Edinburgh 8:42 15:40 6 h 57 min
  Moscow 8:57 15:58 7 h 00 min
  Berlin 8:15 15:54 7 h 39 min
  Warsaw 7:43 15:25 7 h 42 min
  London 8:04 15:53 7 h 49 min
  Kyiv 7:56 15:56 8 h 00 min
  Paris 8:41 16:56 8 h 14 min
  Vienna 7:42 16:03 8 h 20 min
  Budapest 7:28 15:55 8 h 26 min
  Rome 7:34 16:42 9 h 07 min
  Madrid 8:34 17:51 9 h 17 min
  Lisbon 7:51 17:18 9 h 27 min
  Athens 7:37 17:09 9 h 31 min
Africa
City Sunrise
22 Dec 2015
Sunset
22 Dec 2015
Length of the day
  Cairo 6:47 16:59 10 h 12 min
  Tenerife 7:53 18:13 10 h 19 min
  Dakar 7:30 18:46 11 h 15 min
  Addis Ababa 6:35 18:11 11 h 36 min
  Nairobi 6:25 18:37 12 h 11 min
  Kinshasa 5:45 18:08 12 h 22 min
  Dar es Salaam 6:05 18:36 12 h 31 min
  Luanda 5:46 18:24 12 h 38 min
  Antananarivo 5:10 18:26 13 h 16 min
  Windhoek 6:04 19:35 13 h 31 min
  Johannesburg 5:12 18:59 13 h 47 min
  Cape Town 5:32 19:57 14 h 25 min
Middle East
City Sunrise
22 Dec 2015
Sunset
22 Dec 2015
Length of the day
  Tehran 7:10 16:55 9 h 44 min
  Beirut 6:39 16:33 9 h 54 min
  Baghdad 7:02 16:59 9 h 57 min
  Jerusalem 6:35 16:39 10 h 04 min
  Manama 6:21 16:51 10 h 30 min
  Doha 6:15 16:49 10 h 34 min
  Dubai 7:00 17:34 10 h 34 min
  Riyadh 6:32 17:10 10 h 37 min
  Muscat 6:43 17:23 10 h 41 min
  Sana'a 6:25 17:38 11 h 13 min
Americas
City Sunrise
22 Dec 2015
Sunset
22 Dec 2015
Length of the day
  Inuvik 0 h
  Fairbanks 10:58 14:40 3 h 41 min
  Nuuk 10:22 14:28 4 h 06 min
  Anchorage 10:14 15:42 5 h 27 min
  Edmonton 8:48 16:15 7 h 27 min
  Vancouver 8:05 16:16 8 h 11 min
  Seattle 7:55 16:20 8 h 25 min
  Ottawa 7:39 16:22 8 h 42 min
  Toronto 7:48 16:43 8 h 55 min
  New York City 7:16 16:32 9 h 15 min
  Washington, D.C. 7:23 16:49 9 h 26 min
  Los Angeles 6:55 16:48 9 h 53 min
  Dallas 7:25 17:25 9 h 59 min
  Miami 7:03 17:35 10 h 31 min
  Honolulu 7:04 17:55 10 h 50 min
  Mexico City 7:06 18:03 10 h 57 min
  Managua 6:01 17:26 11 h 24 min
  Bogotá 5:59 17:50 11 h 51 min
  Quito 6:08 18:16 12 h 08 min
  Recife 5:00 17:35 12 h 35 min
  Lima 5:41 18:31 12 h 50 min
  La Paz 5:57 19:04 13 h 06 min
  Rio de Janeiro 6:04 19:37 13 h 33 min
  São Paulo 6:17 19:52 13 h 35 min
  Salt Lake City 7:48 17:03 9 h 14 min
  Porto Alegre 6:20 20:25 14 h 05 min
  Santiago 6:29 20:52 14 h 22 min
  Buenos Aires 5:37 20:06 14 h 28 min
  Ushuaia 4:51 22:11 17 h 19 min
Asia-Pacific
City Sunrise
22 Dec 2015
Sunset
22 Dec 2015
Length of the day
  Magadan 8:54 14:55 6 h 00 min
  Petropavlovsk 9:36 17:10 7 h 33 min
  Khabarovsk 8:48 17:07 8 h 18 min
  Ulaanbaatar 8:39 17:02 8 h 22 min
  Vladivostok 8:40 17:40 8 h 59 min
  Beijing 7:32 16:52 9 h 20 min
  Seoul 7:44 17:17 9 h 34 min
  Tokyo 6:47 16:31 9 h 44 min
  Shanghai 6:48 16:55 10 h 07 min
  Lhasa 8:46 19:01 10 h 14 min
  Delhi 7:09 17:28 10 h 19 min
  Hong Kong 6:58 17:44 10 h 46 min
  Manila 6:16 17:32 11 h 15 min
  Bangkok 6:36 17:55 11 h 19 min
  Singapore 7:01 19:04 12 h 03 min
  Jakarta 5:36 18:05 12 h 28 min
  Denpasar 5:58 18:36 12 h 37 min
  Darwin 6:19 19:10 12 h 51 min
  Papeete 5:21 18:32 13 h 10 min
  Brisbane 4:49 18:42 13 h 52 min
  Perth 5:07 19:22 14 h 14 min
  Sydney 5:41 20:05 14 h 24 min
  Auckland 5:58 20:39 14 h 41 min
  Melbourne 5:54 20:42 14 h 47 min
  Dunedin 5:43 21:28 15 h 44 min
  Invercargill 5:50 21:39 15 h 48 min

See also

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Astronomy

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Holidays

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References

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  1. ^ Astronomical Applications Department of USNO. "Earth's Seasons - Equinoxes, Solstices, Perihelion, and Aphelion". Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  2. ^ "Solstices and Equinoxes: 2001 to 2100". AstroPixels.com. 20 February 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  3. ^ Équinoxe de printemps entre 1583 et 2999
  4. ^ Solstice d’été de 1583 à 2999
  5. ^ Équinoxe d’automne de 1583 à 2999
  6. ^ Solstice d’hiver
  7. ^ Bromberg, Irv. "Solar Year Length Variations on Earth" (PDF). University of Toronto, Canada. Retrieved 21 December 2012.
  8. ^ "Paikallissää Helsinki" [‘Local weather in Helsinki’] (in Finnish). Finnish Meteorological Institute. 22 December 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  9. ^ "Perth, Australia". Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  10. ^ "São Paulo, Brazil". Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  11. ^ "Denpasar, Indonesia". Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  12. ^ "Edmonton, Canada". Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  13. ^ "Inuvik, Canada". Retrieved 19 December 2020. "Saint-Petersburg, Russia". Retrieved 16 June 2024.