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A solstice is the time when the Sun reaches its most northerly or southerly excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around 20–22 June and 20–22 December. In many countries, the seasons of the year are defined by reference to the solstices and the equinoxes.
Arriving on the same day across the globe, a solstice occurs when the sun reaches its lowest or highest point in the sky during the year as a result of the Earth’s axis tilting to or away from ...
For example, with an axial tilt is 23°, and at a latitude of 45°, then the summer's peak sun angle is 68° (giving sin(68°) = 93% insolation at the surface), while winter's least sun angle is 22° (giving sin(22°) = 37% insolation at the surface). Thus, the greater the axial tilt, the stronger the seasons' variations at a given latitude.
The winter solstice occurs during the hemisphere's winter. In the Northern Hemisphere, this is the December solstice (December 21 or 22) and in the Southern Hemisphere, this is the June solstice (June 20 or 21). Although the winter solstice itself lasts only a moment, the term also refers to the day on which it occurs.
At the solstices, the angle between the rays of the Sun and the plane of the Earth's equator reaches its maximum value of 23.44°. Therefore, δ ☉ = +23.44° at the northern summer solstice and δ ☉ = −23.44° at the southern summer solstice.
The solstices are the dates that the Sun stays farthest away from the zenith but also in those cases it's high in the sky, reaching an altitude of 66.56° either to the north or the south. All days of the year, solstices included, have the same length of 12 hours. Solstice day arcs as viewed from 20° latitude. The Sun culminates at 46.56 ...
The diagram uses neopagan labeling; Litha is the summer solstice, Yule is the winter solstice, Ostara is the vernal equinox, and Mabon is the autumnal equinox. Earth's seasonal lag is largely caused by the presence of large amounts of water, which has a high latent heat of freezing and of condensation. [1]
In many countries, the seasons of the year are determined by the solstices and the equinoxes. The term solstice can also be used in a broader sense, as the day when this occurs. The day of a solstice in either hemisphere has either the most sunlight of the year ( summer solstice ) or the least sunlight of the year ( winter solstice ) for any ...