We’re only a couple of days away from the shortest day of the year in Australia – the winter solstice.
When is the Winter Solstice?
This Thursday the 22nd of June, 2023 will be the Winter Solstice: the shortest day of the year.
On Thursday, we’ll only have about 9 hours and 32 minutes of sunlight. The sun is expected to rise at 7:35am and set around 5:07pm in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Will the shortest day of the year also be the coldest day of the year?
We’re in the middle of winter in Melbourne so yes, it’ll be cold. But it won’t necessarily be the coldest day of the year.
The Winter Solstice is also known as ‘astronomical winter’. But this can be misleading since we’ve still got a couple of months of winter ahead of us – especially since the days are set to get longer after the shortest day of the year. Expect temperatures to get even colder as we shiver through the next couple of months.
What’s special about this Thursday?
Earth’s axial tilt of 23.5 degrees means that Earth rotates on an angle. The June Solstice (Winter Solstice) marks the point where the Southern Hemisphere is tilted the farthest away from the sun. This means that the Sun takes the quickest path to travel across the sky. As a result, we have the shortest day of the year.
This year, this point will occur in the Southern Hemisphere only a couple of days from now. At exactly 12:57am on Thursday the 22nd of June, 2023, the Southern Hemisphere will be the farthest from the sun.
But the June Solstice only happens for people in the Southern Hemisphere. The Northern Hemisphere actually has their own Winter Solstice in December.
Why is the winter solstice something to celebrate?
Astronomers around the globe celebrate the shortest day of the year for one main reason – darkness.
It’s a lot harder to explore and photograph the night sky during the day. With only 9 hours and 32 minutes of daylight, the winter solstice offers a great opportunity for astronomy. This is of course, provided the sky stays clear of cloud and rain.
If you’re anything like us, expect to stay up all night this Thursday taking photos of the night sky.
Clear skies.
Photo by Ryan Hutton