Once again we have entered the time of the winter solstice — when daylight is scarce and the creeping darkness seems to whisper: Slow down. Turn inward. Fortify yourself against the long, cold ...

Friday is the longest day of the year north of the equator, where the solstice marks the start of astronomical summer.

Does the winter solstice mark the coldest day on Earth? No. Even though this marks the official start of winter, most of the U.S. experiences its lowest temperatures in January because it takes ...

Meteorologists like to start winter on Dec. 1 for their own scientific reasons, but as far as the Earth is concerned, we greet the season today, the day of the winter solstice . Here are five ...

The winter solstice occurs two times each year because Earth's axis of rotation is tilted 23.4 degrees in relation to the Earth's orbit around the Sun, according to NASA.

In this image, you can see Earth from space at exactly 5 a.m. EST (1000 GMT), a mere two minutes before the official winter solstice. Get the Space.com Newsletter ...

So, though we tend to think about the winter solstice as a day-long event, the term actually refers to a precise moment at which one half of the Earth — either the top or the bottom — is ...

What the winter solstice really means. The Earth’s poles do not sit directly north and south. Instead, the Earth sits at a constant tilt of about 23.5° off a vertical axis.

The solstice occurs at the same instant everywhere on Earth: Here in the United States, it happens at 5:02 a.m. ET on Monday. The winter and summer solstices, along with the equinoxes, loom large ...

The summer solstice is when the axis points toward the sun, the winter solstice is when it points away. The Earth’s bearings in space, relative to the sun’s rays, is what determines the season ...

When does the winter solstice occur? The Earth's North Pole will be tilted farthest from the sun at 11:27 a.m. ET on Thursday, Dec. 21, 2017, according to the National Weather Service.

The summer solstice marks the beginning of astronomical summer each year, typically falling between June 20 and June 22. In ...