Start

The winter of the Northern Hemisphere (and the summer in the South) has begun on December 22 at 05.19 peninsular time (04.19 in the Canary Islands).

Short days

On the day of the solstice the longest boreal night takes place. On that day, in Madrid the night will last 14 hours and 43 minutes, while there will only be 9 hours and 17 minutes of sunlight. Oddly enough, the shortest day of the year is not the day the sun rises later, nor is it the day the sun sets before. This is because the Earth's orbit is an ellipse and the axis of this ellipse has nothing to do with the inclination of the earth's axis that defines the seasons. The earliest sunset of 2019 took place on December 8, while the latest sunrise this winter will occur on January 4, 2020.

Close to the sun

In the winter solstice, the North Pole of the Earth is further from the Sun than the South Pole. Seen from Earth, the Sun is at noon in the "Tropic of Capricorn", its southernmost possible position. There is the paradoxical circumstance that the winter of the northern hemisphere arrives when the Earth, in its elliptical movement around the Sun, is as close as possible to the king star. The closest point, called PERIHELIO, will be reached on Sunday, January 5, 2020, when the Earth is at a distance slightly greater than 147 million kilometers from the Sun, that is, 5 million kilometers closer than in the position of the aphelion we went through last July 4th.

Still sun

The days before and after day 22 the maximum height of the Sun in the sky at noon does not change much in the sky. Hence the word SOLSTICIO that means 'still sun'.

North Pole

At the North Pole, the night that began on September 23 reaches its midpoint, another three months of night remain until spring arrives.

Annular Eclipse of the Sun

On Thursday, December 26, 2019 an annular eclipse of the Sun will take place that will be visible on a narrow strip of the planet that goes from Saudi Arabia, through Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, southern India and northern Ceylon , to the Pacific Ocean. Around this strip the eclipse will be visible as partial in areas of East Africa, northern Australia and throughout Asia.

Moon penumbral eclipse visible from Spain

During the first full moon of winter, on Friday, January 10, there will be a penumbral eclipse of Luna that will be visible from Spain. As the sun goes down, the moon will rise and the eclipse will begin that will reach its maximum at 20h11m, Madrid time. At this moment Selene will be about 25 degrees above the east horizon and we can see a subtle difference in brightness and color between the northern and southern parts of the lunar globe. In fact, the northern zone will be almost out of the penumbra, while the southern zone will be in full gloom, touching the area of ​​the shadow cast by our planet.

Planets

During the sunrises of this winter, Mars will be visible, throughout the season, although not very bright because it is now a great distance from the Earth, on the other side of the Sun. From mid-January Jupiter will appear and, from February, Saturn. Winter dusk will be dominated by the bright Venus.

Quadrantids

The most important meteor shower of winter is that of the Quadrantids that will have its maximum at night from January 3 to 4. That night the Moon will be in a crescent room (the full moon will take place on the 10th), so it will be preferable to observe the rain of stars once the Moon has gone to bed, after midnight.

Duration

This winter will last 88 days and 23 hours. It will end on Friday, March 20, 2020 with the arrival of spring. Winter is the shortest of the four seasons. This is due to Kepler's Second Law: the line that joins the Earth to the Sun sweeps equal areas in equal times. When the Earth is now in its closest positions to the Sun, it moves with a maximum speed in its orbit, which translates into the shortest duration of winter compared to the other three seasons.

Rafael Bachiller is an astronomer and director of the National Astronomical Observatory (IGN)

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