Sunday, December 7, 2014

Earliest Sunset NOT on Winter Solstice!


I often like to catch the sunset and when I checked on my blog site for the sunset time, which is located on the right column below, I noticed that the sunset time 
was the same for several days in a row:


How could that be? What about solstice? Wouldn't the earliest sunsets be on solstice?
After some research, NO it is not for this part of the hemisphere! The earliest sunsets are happening NOW and not just for one day but for days, as displayed above. 

Winter solstice is on December 21st this year and the reason the earliest sunsets and solstice don't coincide is due to the discrepancy between the clock and sun. It has to do with the solar noon measurement, which is a half minute longer in December. 
See this site for further information: 

Make note though, that the shortest day still is on solstice since sunrise is later!

The upside is we can start enjoying later sunsets sooner, starting December 16th!



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