Believe it or not, astronomical winter arrives on Dec. 21 at 4:21 a.m. Astronomically speaking, this is the date and time of the winter solstice for the Northern Hemisphere and the summer solstice for the Southern Hemisphere.
The Northern Hemisphere will have the longest night of the year on Saturday, and starting on Sunday, the sun will start climbing higher in the sky each day with an ever increasing length of daylight.
The earth’s seasons are caused by the its orbit around the sun and the 23.5 degree tilt of our planet’s axis. This causes the amount of sunlight falling on the earth’s northern and southern hemispheres to constantly change.
The two hemispheres are always opposite in their seasons — our fall is their spring while our summer is their winter.
If you are out enjoying the longest night of the year, the five visible planets will keep you company.
Venus blazes above the southwest horizon as it gets dark — you can’t miss it. At 9 p.m., in the southwestern sky you will see yellowish Saturn, while over in the east, brilliant Jupiter rides high in the sky. Reddish Mars will be to the lower left near the horizon. You can see Mercury low in the southeast sky about an hour before sunrise, and binoculars will help immensely with finding the bright, yellowish planet.
The Ursid meteor shower is predicted to peak on Dec. 22-23, but a bright moon will hamper the view.
On Dec. 30 you will learn what my “Top Space Story for 2024” is and on Jan. 1, WTOP’s monthly “What’s Up In DMV Skies” will premiere. Each month, what’s happening in the sky as well as space-related events on the ground, we’ll keep you up to speed.
Wishing everyone happy holidays and a joyous new year.
Follow Greg Redfern on Facebook, Bluesky and his daily blog to keep up with the latest news in astronomy and space exploration.
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