The shortest day of the year occurs at 4:47 p.m. On Wednesday
It will be the shortest day of the year for people living in the north. The start of the spring season is marked by an equinox and it signals the arrival of winter.
The start of summer in the southern hemisphere coincides with the December solstice. Daylight hours will be reduced through the March equinox and up until the June solstice.
Earth's tilted axis and the planet's position around the sun are two of the reasons for the seasonal shuffle.
When the sun is closest to the horizon, it's the winter solstice.
Every year, the earth rotates around its axis and the sun is not visible.
The earth's axis is not perfect. Depending on the time of year, different parts of the world get more or less sunlight.
The northern hemisphere is tilted away from the sun, so the sun rises later and sets earlier, and countries in the north get the least sunlight.
The sun will not rise in areas above the circle.
The south of the earth is tilted towards the sun.
The sun rises earlier, the south gets the most light of the year, and the summer begins. A person standing outside on Wednesday will not have a shadow as the sun is almost overhead.
The sun doesn't set in some places.
The center of gravity on our planet is offset by the sun.
The time it takes to cycle through the seasons isn't perfect.
It takes 89 days after the December solstice for the most direct rays of the sun to return to the equator. The June solstice is 92 days away. The Tropic of Cancer is reached when the sun's most direct rays reach it.
It takes 93 days and 14 hours for the sun's zenith to return to the equator, and then 89 days and 19 hours to complete the cycle with the December solstice.
During each of these phases, certain regions of Earth's surface get more sunlight and energy is stored from water sources, which in turn leads to the creation of seasonal temperatures and weather variations.
Some satellites fly in a way that allows them to stay above a single spot on the planet.
It's a great opportunity to take pictures of the Earth over the course of the year.
The animation below was created by NASA and shows the seasonal progression.
The article was first published in December of 1992. Dave was involved in the previous version of the article.
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