So the world probably won't end on Dec. 21, 2012 but it is officially winter solstice. Winter solstice means that days are longer and nights get shorter and that half of winter is over.
In the Northern Hemisphere the Winter Solstice marks the longest night and shortest day of the entire year while in the Southern Hemisphere that means it has its longest day and shortest night. After the Winter Solstice days get longer and nights get shorter.
"We know that the solstice is an astronomical event, caused by Earth's tilt on its axis, and its motion in orbit around the sun," Earthsky.org reported. "Because Earth doesn't orbit upright, but is instead tilted on its axis by 23-and-a-half degrees, Earth's Northern and Southern Hemispheres trade places in receiving the sun's light and warmth most directly. The tilt of the Earth - not our distance from the sun - is what causes winter and summer. At the December solstice, the Northern Hemisphere is leaning most away from the sun for the year."
As far as noticeable differences, earthsky.org reported that in the Norther hemisphere late dawns and early sunsets occur and there is a low arc of the sun in the sky everyday. December Solstice is also the longest noontime shadow of the year. In the Southern Hemisphere dawn is earlier and dusk is later and the sun is higher. The shortest noontime shadow of the year is in the Southern Hemisphere at this time.
"Solstice" comes from the latin phrase for "sun stands still." "That's because-after months of growing shorter and lower since the summer solstice-the sun's arc through the sky appears to stabilize, with the sun seeming to rise and set in the same two places for several days," reports National Geographic. "Then the arc begins growing longer and higher in the sky, reaching its peak at the summer solstice."
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