It's The Shortest Day Of The Year! Welcome, Winter Solstice
Escape from your cube and find the nearest west-facing window this afternoon to catch a 4:40pm sunset on the shortest day of 2011.
The winter solstice technically occurs tonight at 9:30pm PDT. An L.A. city release comprehensively explains the event. "It is the moment when the Earth's orbital motion points the tilted northern axis of Earth's rotation away from the Sun. From the northern hemisphere, the apparent daily path of the Sun takes its southernmost and shortest path through the sky, which results in the shortest day of the year - a mere 9 hours and 53 minutes in Los Angeles."
If you can make it to the Griffith Observatory by sunset, you can join Griffith Observatory Director Doctor Edwin C. Krupp and L.A. City Councilmember Tom LaBonge as they observe the beginning of a seasonal shift from fall to winter with a special presentation.
Following the winter solstice, the days will grow longer and the nights will shrink.
National Geographic posted a few facts about the winter solstice today, which you can read here.
