Today, December 21st, at 7:22 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, the Winter Solstice arrives. What does this mean, exactly?
It is the longest night of the year, and therefore the shortest day.
If you were to trace the path of the Sun across the sky today, and note how high off the horizon the Sun was when it was due south, at the apex of its arc, then that point on the sky is the lowest it will be all year. In other words, tomorrow, the apex of that arc will be a tiny bit higher, and the next day it'll be even higher, and so on. On June 21, 2007, the arc will be as high as it can be, and then it will inexorably start to drop again.
If you are in the southern hemisphere, then switch everything I'm saying here. Down is up, summer is winter, war is ...
