Latest winter solstice Stories
CABOT, Vt., Dec. 21, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly half the world was able to witness the first Winter Solstice lunar eclipse in 372 years early this morning as the earth slowly blocked the sun's rays from striking the moon. But that's not the only unique feature of today's astronomical phenomenon. No indeed. At precisely 6:38 pm (EST) tonight, the day's second biggest phenomenon takes place - the Winter Solstice - marking the shortest day and the longest night of the year. And that means...
This year's winter solstice will coincide with a full lunar eclipse for the first time in 456 years.The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, and it has not fallen on the same day as a lunar eclipse since 1554, according to NASA. This eclipse will be the second on two eclipses in 2010. The first was a partial lunar eclipse that took place on June 26, 2010.  Some believe that this event holds special significance, such as one ancient culture who saw the winter solstice as a...
Hundreds of Lights, Live Music and Holiday Activities Create a Festive Occasion at the Garden Naples, FL (Vocus) December 7, 2010 On December 16, 2010 Naples Botanical Garden begins its annual Winter Solstice Celebration, sponsored by Home-Tech, from 6-8 p.m. During December 16 -23 and again from December 26-30 from 6-8 p.m. visitors will enjoy special holiday activities and live musical entertainment as they walk along Garden pathways lit by hundreds of tiki-torches to the Solstice...
In a fitting finale for the International Year of Astronomy (IYA 2009), astronomers and archaeologists will celebrate the five millennia of astronomical heritage at Stonehenge, the most sophisticated stone circle in the world and amongst Europe's most important Neolithic sites. The attractions include a free public astronomy exhibition and expert-led tours of the site and surrounding landscape.Activity on the world famous Stonehenge site dates from earlier than 3000 BCE and the monument was...
With 8 inches of hail falling in parts of Nebraska this week and Arizona reaching triple digit temperatures last week, it may seem rather arbitrary to call June 20 the first day of the summer this year, aka the summer solstice. But scientists really do have a reason. It's all about Earth's cockeyed leanings and some celestial configurations that even the ancients understood. Our planet is tilted 23.5 degrees on its spin axis. On June 20 this year (some years it's...
ESA's SMART-1 mission to the Moon has been monitoring the illumination of lunar poles since the beginning of 2005, about two months before arriving at its final science orbit.Ever since, the AMIE on-board camera has been taking images which are even able to show polar areas in low illumination conditions. Images like these will help identify if peaks of eternal light exist at the poles. SMART-1 took views of the North Polar Region from a distance of 5000 km during a pause in the spiralling...
NASA -- What do Stonehenge, Mayan pyramids, and a spacecraft a million miles away have in common? They're linked by a human need to explore and understand the Sun, moon, planets, and stars. This year's Sun-Earth Day on March 20 focuses on "Ancient Observatories: Timeless Knowledge" and falls on the vernal equinox when day and night are the same length. Appropriately, NASA and the Exploratorium in San Francisco are focusing on ancient peoples and their fascination with the Sun, which...
Latest winter solstice Reference Libraries
The Summer Solstice, or "Midsummer," derived from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still), occurs exactly when the Earth's axial tilt is most inclined towards the sun at its maximum of 23° 26'. This is the time when the Sun is at its highest, or most northerly, point in the sky in the Northern Hemisphere. Except in the polar regions, where daylight is continuous for many months during the spring and summer, the day on which the Summer solstice occurs is the day of the year with...
Ecliptic -- The ecliptic is the geometric plane that contains the orbit of the Earth. The orbits of most planets in the Solar System lie very close to it. Seen from the Earth, this is the great circle on the celestial sphere that contains the different positions of the Sun relative to the background stars throughout the year, and most planets can be seen close this circle. The zodiac also lies along the plane of the ecliptic. Because there are about 365.25 days in a year and 360...
