Date of shortest day of year??

Ding Dong · 19-12-2011 1:59pm #1

just looking on the internet, and there sites saying the 21st is the shortest and others saying the 22nd? anyone have a definitive answer?

tonytoc11 · 19-12-2011 2:10pm

I always thought it was the 21st anyway

djmc · 19-12-2011 2:42pm

I always thought it was 21st too but looking at the table on wiki (at the right of page) it seems to depend on the year 2011 is the 22nd
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_solstice

nilhg · 19-12-2011 3:03pm

It depends on were you are really, the solstice is at 5.30Am in Dublin so as you go west that will be before midnight in most of the US and Canada and across the Pacific.

Times for Dublin here

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=78&month=12&year=2011&obj=sun&afl=-11&day=1

Askim · 20-12-2011 12:51am

that's great, bit of a stretch in the evening on friday so

A

greysides · 20-12-2011 1:18am

I've a feeling that while we call it 'the shortest day', it's actually the longest night, leaving the days either side of it as the shortest days.

Mr.Success · 20-12-2011 1:56am

It varies from year to year. Same with longest day and the equinox's. 22nd of Dec this year but, it would only be a few seconds in difference to the 21st and 23rd

blue5000 · 20-12-2011 3:12pm

Anyone ever get tickets for the winter solstice in new grange?

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4 · 20-12-2011 3:16pm

The solstice is on the 21st, however, as each year is 365 and 1/4 days, only on a leap year does it fall exactly on the 21st. As next year is a leap year, the shortest day will prob be the 22nd this year.

Alibaba · 20-12-2011 7:06pm

TG, As of tomorrow we've turned the corner....and they're getting longer ;

And roll on the Summer.:)

greysides · 20-12-2011 7:25pm

Alibaba wrote: »

TG, As of tomorrow we've turned the corner....and they're getting longer ;

And roll on the Summer.:)

Hear, HEAR!!

HeidiHeidi · 20-12-2011 7:32pm

blue5000 wrote: »

Anyone ever get tickets for the winter solstice in new grange?

Yep, years ago. It used to be just a lottery run by the OPW, we applied and got tickets a few years later. The sun shone for us as well!!! We were still well underwhelmed, though - I think maybe we were a bit young to appreciate the whole thing. And I thought my legs might break from crouching down. Still glad I can say I was there once, though. Now I think it's more or less a closed shop, unless you're a politician or well-connected (hope I'm wrong on that).

As regards the longest night/shortest day, I think that the period of daylight is the shortest on 21st/22nd. But I think that it continues getting dark earlier every day long after those dates. So no noticeable stretch in the evenings for a while yet

(again, i'm quite willing and happy to be wrong on that!)

nilhg · 20-12-2011 11:16pm

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

As regards the longest night/shortest day, I think that the period of daylight is the shortest on 21st/22nd. But I think that it continues getting dark earlier every day long after those dates. So no noticeable stretch in the evenings for a while yet (again, i'm quite willing and happy to be wrong on that!)

That does depend on the year, this year, according to the link I posted above the earliest sunset was between the 11th and 16th at 16.06 and we've had a slight stretch in the evenings ever since. Latest sunrise however occurs on Dec 30th.

bold_defender · 20-12-2011 11:36pm

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

As regards the longest night/shortest day, I think that the period of daylight is the shortest on 21st/22nd. But I think that it continues getting dark earlier every day long after those dates. So no noticeable stretch in the evenings for a while yet (again, i'm quite willing and happy to be wrong on that!)

I think your wrong there, for years my father would always be saying round christmas time how there was a stretch in the evenings, me and my mother would be telling him the shortest day was only over and couldn't be. If you look at these times http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/astronomy.html?n=78&month=12&year=2011&obj=sun&afl=-11&day=1
you'll see how the sunsets get later from around the 16th onwards. But the sunrises keep getting later. So the evenings improve from about the 16th but the mornings get darker until the 31st.
Now how my da could notice this with out a stopwatch by Christmas day is beyond me what with the difference in weather from day to day. There is only minutes in it for most of the second half of december.

Date of shortest day of year??

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