Winter Solstice 2024

This year's winter solstice occurs on Saturday, December 21. The brilliant stars of winter are on full display.

Without the atmosphere, the sun is set against the galactic center in this view to the south, midday, Saturday, December 21, 2024. Brilliant Venus is to the east along the ecliptic and is a brilliant evening light. Mercury, as a morning object, is much closer to the sun on the sky and thus, maybe lost in its glare at sunrise. Image via Stellarium.

This Year's Winter Solstice Occurs on Saturday, December 21, 2024, at 4:20 am EST (09:20 UTC). For a full calendar, please visit Time and Date.

In the illustration above, the angular distance on the sky at the meridian between the Celestial Equator (the projection of the Earth’s equator onto the sky) and the Ecliptic (the plane of the Solar System) is exactly equal to the angular tilt of the Earth’s axis of rotation.

The sun is at its lowest point on the sky at midday during the third week in December in the Northern Hemisphere and represents the ‘beginning of winter’. The two Equinoxes (Vernal or ‘Spring’, 3rd week in March and Autumnal, 3rd week in September) occur when the sun crosses the Celestial Equator at the midpoint between these highest and lowest points of the sun’s apparent travel across the sky (the two solstices). The Celestial Equator represents the projection of the Earth’s equator on the sky. It should be noted that the Southern Hemisphere experiences the same seasons but at opposite times during the year. Summer in Australia occurs during December and January, while Winter occurs during June and July.

Brilliant Venus with Saturn as Evening Objects