Astronomy: Astronomical winter officially begins on Friday

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This is also called the winter solstice, as the weather service Meteonews announced in advance. Friday is approaching not only the shortest day, but also the longest night.

The astronomical start of winter means that the sun is at its lowest midday level above the horizon in the Northern Hemisphere and that the sun is vertically above the Tropic of Capricorn at exactly 4:27 a.m. Central European Time (CET). Winter then lasts until March 20. Then at 4:06 a.m. the sun is vertically above the equator and calendar spring begins, as was said.

By the way, the day of the astronomical beginning of winter varies, since according to the calendar a year lasts 365 days, but the astronomical year is 365 days, 5 hours and 49 minutes. To make up for the difference, there is a leap year every four years.

The meteorological beginning of winter differs from the astronomical one: it was already on December 1. Unlike astronomical winter, meteorological winter is always assigned full months. It always lasts from the beginning of December to the end of February.

However, the earliest sunset occurs a few days earlier than the winter solstice, while the latest sunrise occurs slightly later, according to the weather service. This is partly because the Earth rotates around its own axis every 24 hours, although the axis of rotation is not perpendicular to the orbit, but rather at an angle of 66.5 degrees (the so-called ecliptic). This results in a further shift in solar time over the course of the year.

(SDA)

Source:Blick