Visitors enjoy Stonehenge on winter solstice, 2010.
(Tim Robberts / Getty Images)
On Saturday, December 21, 2016, the winter solstice will mark the official astronomical start of winter in the northern hemisphere. For many people who want to travel somewhere special to celebrate the event, England’s Stonehenge tops the list of potential destinations. Read on to discover why.
Made For Solstice
Recent research suggests that Stonehenge, which was constructed between 5,000 and 3,500 years ago by a sun-worshipping Neolithic culture in southwest England, was built to enhance the dramatic passage of sunlight through its monumental circle of stones at midsummer and midwinter. Researchers working for English Heritage found that stones in the northeast segment of the circle were “pick-dressed,” or carefully worked to be smoother and neater than the other columns. These stones were set where they would have been seen by people approaching the monument from the northeast along a route that researchers say would have been especially spectacular at the midwinter sunset.
People look towards the sun as druids, pagans and revelers gather at Stonehenge, hoping to see the sun rise, as they take part in a winter solstice ceremony at the ancient neolithic monument of Stonehenge near Amesbury on December 21, 2016 in Wiltshire, England.
(Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
Open To All
Most of the year, visiting Stonehenge means purchasing tickets in advance. But the rules change four times a year, during the solstices and equinoxes. English Heritage, the nonprofit that oversees the site, makes entry free on those days. And not only that: they also remove the ropes that usually cordon off the stones, allowing visitors to wander within the famous circle. Visitors can even spend the night there if they wish.
The Solstice: One Moment in Time
Typically around December 21 or 22 – though on rare occasions, it can be as early as December 20 or as late as December 23 – the sun is directly overhead at the Tropic of Capricorn (23.5 degrees south latitude). That precise instant in time – in 2024, at 4:19 a.m. EST on December 21 – is the solstice. Around the time of the winter solstice, the sun is farthest south in the sky at noon in the northern hemisphere. Less direct solar radiation means less heating of the ground in the winter hemisphere.
The day of the winter solstice features the least amount of possible daylight hours and the longest night in the northern hemisphere. The reverse is true in the southern hemisphere.
Soon after the winter solstice, the number of daylight hours in the northern hemisphere will gradually grow longer each day until the summer solstice in late June, when the greatest amount of daylight hours occurs.
A Tilted Earth Gives Us Our Seasons
Looking from space, the Earth isn’t aligned in such a way that a line going through the planet’s poles is vertical. Rather, the Earth has a tilt of roughly 23.5 degrees off a vertical axis. Because of that tilt, the northern and southern hemispheres are tilted either toward or away from the sun at different times of the year as the Earth makes its orbit around its closest star.
As a result, the most direct sunlight shifts between a band of latitudes, specifically between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropical of Capricorn, throughout the year, leading to the change of seasons seen in the middle and higher latitudes.
Senior writer Chris DeWeese edits Morning Brief, The Weather Channel’s weekday newsletter.
