This year, the northern hemisphere winter solstice will fall on 22 December. On this date there are the fewest hours of daylight and, during the day, the Sun reaches its lowest elevation. The origin of the word solstice is from two Latin words: sol, which means Sun, and sistere, to stand still. At the time of the winter… Continue reading December 22 2023 – the solstice
In 2023 September 23 is the date of the September equinox and is also the first day of autumn (or the first day of spring if you're one of my readers in the Southern Hemisphere). In this post I’ll talk about the equinoxes and discus the commonly held, but incorrect, view that they are the… Continue reading September 23 2023 the equinox
In 2023 March 20 is the date of the March equinox and is also the first day of spring (or the first day of autumn if you're one of my readers in the Southern Hemisphere). In this post I’ll talk about the equinoxes and discuss the commonly held, but not quite correct, view, that they… Continue reading The equinox 20 March 2023
Happy New Year to my readers and followers and I hope you have successful 2023. Although for most us the Christmas and New year festivities are over, for followers of the Orthodox form of Christianity, Christmas is yet to come, as they don't celebrate their Christmas until January 7. The reasons for celebrating Christmas 13… Continue reading Christmas Day January 7th?
With all the events going on in the world it passed almost unnoticed that a decision was made recently to abolish the leap second. The resolution was made on 18 November 2022 during a meeting held in Paris held by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. What is a leap second? The length of… Continue reading No more leap seconds
