The Winter Solstice Tuesday 21 June 2022

The Southern Hemisphere shortest day is this weekend, Tuesday 21 June is when the nights are the longest and the days are the shortest. Also known as the winter solstice, the day has the fewest hours of daylight in the whole year.

The winter solstice is when the Earth’s tilt on its axil and we are the furthest position from the sun for the year. In the northern hemisphere they will have the summer solstice and their longest day as they are at the closest to the sun.

“Solstice” (Latin: “solstitium”) means sun-stopping. The point on the horizon where the sun appears to rise and set, stops and reverses direction after this day.

I enjoy photographing the winter solstice sunrise and sunset, as I don’t have to get up as early as the summer solstice in December. The estimated sunrise is 6:41am and sunset 4:58pm, it all depends how much cloud there is on the horizon on the day. During the past week I photographed the sunset up Mt Pitt and in 2020 I was so excited to capture the sunset through the Fig Trees by the 100 Acres Reserve.

Check this web site for sunrise and sunset and Solstices & Equinoxes for Kingston details:

https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/seasons.html?n=725

https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/norfolk-island/kingston

During the winter months it is also enjoyable to explore the Norfolk Island outdoors and walk the bush walks and coastal tracks. Remember to take your

camera as there can be interesting mosses and fungi along the tracks. As winter arrives the summer coastal birds will migrate, the whales will be heading north, passing Norfolk Island as they head to warmer waters to give birth to their calves. Also, with the longest nights, you can enjoy the Norfolk Island magical skies. The starry nights are so amazing, just remember to wrap up warm and step outside and look up and be wowed. The winter nights is great for astrophotography, this week I enjoyed taking a couple of images of the moon rising at Kingston.

I often feel that the colder weather comes after the shortest day as the arctic winds blow across the southern oceans and off the snowy peaks in New Zealand. It is the time of the year to enjoy your evenings by a warm fire with winter soups and hot meals. Before we know it, the cold weather will pass, it is never winter for very long on Norfolk Island, that is why we call it our Island Paradise.

Betty Matthews
June 202