 | This article is written in British English, which has its own spelling conventions (colour, travelled, centre, defence, artefact, analyse) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus. |
 | This  level-5 vital article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale.It is of interest to multiple WikiProjects. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the On this day section on December 21, 2013, December 21, 2014, June 21, 2015, and June 20, 2016. |
 | On 21 December 2018, Winter solstice was linked from Google, a high-traffic website. (Traffic) All prior and subsequent edits to the article are noted in its revision history. |
 | This article has been viewed enough times in a single week to appear in the Top 25 Report 3 times. The weeks in which this happened:
|
|
| |
|
It is written: "The axial tilt of Earth and gyroscopic effects of its daily rotation mean that the two opposite points in the sky to which the Earth's axis of rotation points (axial precession) change very slowly (at the current rate it would take just under 26,000 years to make a complete circle)"
From a human life perspective, 26 000 years for a rotation seems slow, but from many other points of view it might appear as fast. Also I believe that this truth (one circle per 26 000) is true only currently. AFAIK we are not sure that this is immutable. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kajaeshi (talk • contribs) 09:12, 21 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Implications of aspects of this article (the Sun moves along a path, the poles tilt different ways dependent on the hemisphere, Earth's axis changes its angle, the meaning of the word "solstice") engage cultural discussion and reinforcement, although they differ from scientific fact. Perhaps that interpretation was intentional. However, in an encyclopaedia does a definition need more robustness with "ecliptic", "precession", "declination", "equator", and "horizon"? Do we need to spend less time in definition, and more time in conveyance of facts, and ideas? The perception of the apparent movement of the Sun needs referencing to fact. The Sun doesn't stand still, because it doesn't move. The perception is a consequence of the orbit of the Earth as Earth rotates on its inclined axis. Galileo, Kepler, Copernicus, Newton, and Aristarchus of Samos managed to prove the motion of the Earth. We need to move on. Stonehenge stands as a witness : since time immemorial the Earth is in position to see the Sun over certain stones on certain dates. Don't we celebrate the return of Earth to its position like last year, and anticipate the position next year, rather than make vague gestures towards a sun-god? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Halteres (talk • contribs) 13:13, 21 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]
There is a move discussion in progress on Wikipedia talk:Disambiguation which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 20:01, 9 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Possibly split this article into one detailing the astronomical event and one about the culture/festivities/anthropology ('Midwinter'), similar to Summer solstice and Midsummer. If you disagree, merge Summer solstice and Midsummer?— Preceding unsigned comment added by 163.158.90.245 (talk) 19:55, 29 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
There's a great deal of historical information regarding the likes of solstice festivals being used as a basis for invasion or subjugation by cristianity, and it deserves (in my opinion) a little recognition here. A separate section detailing some of the attempts to criminalise traditional festivals, as well as later attempts to harmonise those same festivals (or similar) with existing christian celebrations could be worth noting - as well as links to such pages as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_paganism
However, I'm not sure what the reception will be like. Any mention of Christianity in such a light seems to attract extremely negative attention from some viewers, so how is this best presented? It is improper to minimise any of the harm done by the spread of christianity solely to appease a specific group, not in the least because it would be historically inaccurate, but at the same time I don't want to start any edit wars or force the page to be write-protected. What do? R0tekatze (talk) 15:36, 19 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
Equinox 197.156.190.199 (talk) 18:52, 22 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]
I propose merging Dongzhi (solar term) into Winter solstice. This is basically the same thing and is written in the same article in Chinese Wikipedia. -Miklcct (talk) 11:14, 5 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
The previous merge proposal was closed in 2015, but I don't accept the reasoning. The solar terms are defined as the exact moment rather than the period, according to the calendars and also by government sources[1], where the article is wrong. The division into 3 pentads refer to the period after the solstice.
In southern hemisphere, the solar terms as practised by overseas Chinese community are actually reversed[2]
The 4 equinoxes / solstices are just 4 special cases of the 24 solar terms in general, therefore they should all be merged as well, which is the way Chinese Wikipedia is written. -Miklcct (talk) 11:31, 5 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
References
One question is whether it should be merged into Winter solsticeorDecember solstice. Do Chinese expatriates who live in the southern hemisphere celebrate it in December or June? Jc3s5h (talk) 19:23, 6 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
The solstice(s) represent a moment in time. Due to various astronomical phenomenon, and what we call zulu time, the longest/shortest night can fall before or after the solstice. Depends on where one is on the planet of course. This can be fractions of seconds.
I'd like to see a chart that shows from what day to day the longest/shortest night is.
Pagans were fearful the days would continue to get shorter. It is presumptive to celebrate on the solstice day when the night to come, on certain years is to be shorter then the night before the solstice day. Philfromwaterbury (talk) 14:23, 6 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]
There must be a band of area near the equator, equal to two times the angle of axial tilt of the Earth, whereby the named Winter and Summer Solstices are irrelevant. At the extreme, exactly on the equator, both Solstices would be equal, representing the coolest time of the year, and would occur twice. Within the band of area, the transition from one solstice to the other would simply change by varying degrees of cooler. Are there assigned names for these specific Solstices (maximums) that do not correspond accurately to the "Winter" and "Summer" naming convention? SquashEngineer (talk) 17:17, 9 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]
The embedded table gives the Winter 2023 solstice time as "03:28". Two references are given, and the more reliable of the two gives the time as "03:27", as do most other credible sites. Could an established editor please fix the time? 2600:1008:A112:EAE7:C500:FEA4:786C:51FB (talk) 15:54, 21 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]
In the text first paragraph I think sentence 3 it says “that hemisphere , blah blah blah” which hemisphere do u mean northern or southern ,
i need this Information for my geographic teachers 2000 minimum word document and presentation with specific information about hemisphere, temperature and mostly about how space affects light from the sun to other parts of the universe 2607:FEA8:4E64:5F00:40E9:641F:1845:EE87 (talk) 19:51, 25 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]
