This Friday is the winter solstice in Australia, marking the shortest day and longest night of the year.
The winter solstice refers to the moment when Earth’s southern or northern hemispheres reaches their furthest tilt away from the sun.
This happens once a year in each hemisphere, with the northern hemisphere’s winter solstice occurring in late December and the southern hemisphere’s winter solstice taking place in late June.
It will happen at 6.51am AEST on Friday June 21, for the southern hemisphere.
Here is what you need to know about the event:
Sydney: Sunrise 7am, sunset 4.53pm
Melbourne: Sunrise 7.35am, sunset 5.08pm
Adelaide: Sunrise 7.23am, sunset 5.11pm
Hobart: Sunrise 7.42am, sunset 4.42pm
Brisbane: Sunrise 6.37am, sunset 5.01pm
Perth: Sunrise 7.16am, sunset 5.20pm
Darwin: Sunrise 7.06am, sunset 6.30pm
From the above chart, you can see the length of the day on the winter solstice will vary depending on latitude.
If you live in Sydney, there will be about nine hours and 54 minutes between sunrise and sunset this year, while Darwin will enjoy 11 hours and 24 minutes. But spare a thought for Hobart which receives only nine hours.
