Solstice Information: We explain what the solstice is and some of its main characteristics. We also explain how it differs from the equinox. Please read other MTV articles for more information. If you share it, it will be of little help to us.
What is the solstice?
We call the two points in the Sun’s journey throughout the year where it coincides at noon with the planet’s two tropics: Cancer and Capricorn, thus reaching its greatest declination relative to the Earth’s equator. In other words, the solstices occur when the Sun reaches its highest or lowest apparent altitude in the sky, moving away from the Earth’s equator at +23° 27′ (North) or -23° 27′ (South).
The solstices occur twice a year: the summer solstice and the winter solstice, marking the beginning of the seasons, the warmest and coldest, respectively, depending on the hemisphere. Thus, the summer solstice occurs towards the end of June in the northern hemisphere and the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere, and vice versa towards the end of December. This phenomenon is linked to the planet’s tilt. Must Read About Summer Once.
The term solstice comes from the Latin sol sistere (“still sun”), because on these days the longest (summer) and shortest (winter) days of the year occur. For this reason, humanity’s various ancient cultures paid special attention to both days, considering them to be peaks of heat or cold, and thus associating them with the reign of the sun and the year’s peak splendor, vitality, and luminosity (summer) and the peak of least light, least fertility, coldest weather, and therefore the greatest presence of the spiritual world, as the night world is often considered. In fact, the most popular tradition of the winter solstice is Christmas. Must Read About Earth’s Axis Once.
Solstice and Equinox
While solstices are the points of greatest distance from the Sun’s equator, producing the peaks of the respective seasons of summer and winter, equinoxes are the exact opposite: the days when the Sun’s plane most closely coincides with the planet’s equator, thus generating days and nights of approximately the same length. There are also two equinoxes throughout the year, in March (summer) and September (autumn) respectively, in the northern hemisphere (they are reversed in the southern hemisphere).
Many traditional human cultures considered the equinoxes as dates of change from one plane to another, periods of transition that welcomed life (spring, with the turning of green) or death (autumn, with the falling of the leaves). Must Read About Spring Once.
References
All the information we offer is supported by authoritative and up-to-date bibliographic sources, which ensure reliable content in line with our editorial principles.
- “Solstice” on Wikipedia.
- “Solstice: The Mystery of the Sun in Different Cultures” in Esfinge Magazine.
- “What is a Solstice?” (video) on Star Tres.
- “Solstice (Astronomy)” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.
- “What’s the Difference Between a Solstice and an Equinox?” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.
