So is today the shortest day of the year or is it tomorrow?? I know it's Dec 21st.

[a kennedy]

But it does start at midnight, so is it today or tomorrow?? Or am I just being stupid??

[a kennedy]

1. 9:03AM tomorrow.

[Lovie777]

2. 12/21/2025......

[a kennedy]

4. @9:03am

[Blues Heron]

3. Tomorrow is the shortest day, but not the earliest sunset or the latest sunrise.

[a kennedy]

6. ??????

Explain please?? and thanks.

[Blues Heron]

7. It has to do with the elliptical nature of our orbit and the tilt of our axis

Last edited Sat Dec 20, 2025, 10:55 PM - Edit history (1)

The sun appears to describe a figure eight pattern called the analemma, on a day to day basis throughout the year, the way this shape intersects the horizon in the west and east causes the earliest sunset to be around dec 8 in the mid latitude northern hemisphere, likewise the latest sunrise is sometime around Jan 3. We’ve been gaining daylight in the evening for over a week already!

[a kennedy]

12. Thank you.

Smartest dang people right here on DU!!!!

[electric_blue68]

18. I've seen composite photos where the picture is taken...

some spot, same time but different days; - that shows that figure 8.
Pretty cool looking!

Eta.
Google sun's analemma you'll get the composite photos👍

[Blues Heron]

19. Yes and if you imagine the whole shape rising and setting each day with the sun on it somewhere

You can see that the side of it near the bottom hits the horizon first. The sun is at that spot on the figure eight around December 8, the earliest sunset

[electric_blue68]

20. Aha! It's cool people tracked it for a year to get the composite.

[electric_blue68]

21. I got one for ya...noticed by the various photos that....

the angle of the whole figure varied.

Different lattitudes? To be pretty noticeable it'd have to be some distance like shooting in Maine, NYC, DC, Atlanta, Miami.

One was straight up could it be near the North pole/Antarctica; horizon looked flattish, and very snowy.

[Blues Heron]

22. Exactly where you are north south determines the angle of it - vertical at the poles, horizontal at the equator

And somewhere in between based on what latitude you’re at.

[electric_blue68]

24. That's what I figured...but I thought you'd actually know....

Tangential but funny (not at the time) experience.

I was on vacation to Puerto Rico in March in the '00s. I was so surprised, and annoyed that the sun set around 5:30P!

For me in NYC I associate full green trees, plenty of flowers with our late sunsets 7P - 8P+.
Here's all this beautiful lushness, and here was a "short" day. 😑

If I'd thought about more at that point - since I've seen illustrations of the Earth's axis tilt of course PR is close to equator where the sun's angle change is very little.

[Blues Heron]

25. That's the trade off of the tropics- no winter, but no long summer evenings either.

There are some great animations out there of the analemma effect and what contributions the tilt and elliptically nature make to it- it’s a rabbit hole worth going down.

[electric_blue68]

31. I might have to take a look. TY.

I do love our long summer evenings!

[Rstrstx]

27. That has more to do with what time zone they choose to use

I remember in Rio the sun being out and bright at 6am. Can’t say I cared for it.

[Rstrstx]

26. The closer you get to the equator the less day length matters

The timing of solar noon is what drives the times of sunrise and sunsets at the equator, and it generally varies by about 30 minutes.

If you live, say, in Quito Ecuador, there is only about a 2 minute difference between the shortest and longest day of the year (12:06 to 12:08). But the sunset varies from 6:01pm in early November to 6:31 in much of February.

[Polybius]

28. Did you mean latest sunrise when you said "the latest sunset is sometime around Jan 3?"

I'd imagine the latest sunset is in June or July. I'm one of those weirdos who likes late sunrises, btw.

[Blues Heron]

30. Yes, thanks that should be sunrise!

[Liberal In Texas]

5. Today is the shortest day of the year in 2025 - so far.

Tomorrow will be shorter.

[AllyCat]

8. lol! Tricksy!

[Botany]

9. But on Monday length of day light per day will be longer. By something like 30 seconds (I think)

It will be spring before we know it and Donny will be gone from office because of ?

[VGNonly]

10. It can be between the Dec 20-23, most typically the 21st.

Tomorrow it will be at 10:03 EST.

But on "flat earth" it spins like a phonograph, an endless skipping record.

[Deuxcents]

11. Winter solstice is tomorrow at 10:03 am ET

Then there is the Winter Equinox..equal day, equal night

[a kennedy]

13. and that's tomorrow as well, right??

[Mossfern]

15. Huh?

There is no Winter Equinox?
No?

[a kennedy]

17. Yes.....the Winter Equinox is tomorrow....

and it’s the beginning of the return of the sun. It’s a powerful symbol of rebirth and new beginnings. And balance, as day and night are almost equal. Why does this just make me feel so calm.

[Blues Heron]

23. Winter solstice you mean, with very unequal day/night length. Next equinox is in the spring - the calming balance

[Mossfern]

33. There is no such thing

as a Winter Equinox.
Are you thinking of the Winter Solstice?

[a kennedy]

35. *blushing*. Yup, you're right Winter Solstice.....

Sorry, and thanks.

[haele]

14. It goes like this. In the Northern Hemesphere, Tonight is the longest night in the Northern

Tomorrow night is the same as yesterday night, only it starts about 3 minutes earlier, therefore, tomorrow is the shortest day of the year.
Light your candles or torch for your bone fires or bonnefires tonight at sunset.

Solstices and Equinox (s? or ii?) mark the four cardinal points of a solar year; shortest day/longest night, longest day/shortest night, and the two days where day and night are equal.

On edit - time to light my candle. Best I can do these days.

[Mossfern]

16. Lit another candle

on my menorah - (chanukia)
It's working!
It's working!

[Polybius]

29. I'm just glad the Fall is over

Not a fan.

[Thunderbeast]

32. Just one question about the whole debate...

When are we supposed to go outside to howl at the moon?

[muriel_volestrangler]

34. It depended where you are in the northern hemisphere, but mostly the 21st this year

In Washington DC, Sept 21st has one or two seconds less daylight than the 20th or 22nd: https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/washington-dc

in Honolulu, the 20th and 21st are listed as having less than a second difference: https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/honolulu

In Tokyo, it's the 21st and 22nd that are listed with the same time. https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/japan/tokyo

I've found one place where the 22nd has less daylight than the 21st - Anadyr, in the far north-east of Russia - 2 seconds less! https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/russia/anadyr

[MineralMan]

36. Doesn't really matter, does it?

Tomorrow, we get an extra 3 seconds of daylight, or something like that. That will go unnoticed. A month from now, we might notice the difference.

The Solstices are around the same time in the Winter and Summer. Exactly when is not really important. 20th, 21st, 22nd....who cares.