Winter solstice 2026

52 nights to go

Monday 21 December 2026 · In the daytime

The Moon that night: 95% lit. If the sky is clear.

The winter solstice is Monday 21 December 2026, at 1:50 pm Mountain Time. It is the shortest day and the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere: in Denver about 9 hours 20 minutes of daylight and nearly 15 hours without.

21 December is the shortest day of the year. It gets dark very early. After that, the days get longer again.

Earth is tilted. In December the north half leans away from the Sun, so the Sun stays low and the days are short. The solstice is the moment it leans away the most. After it, the days slowly grow again.

Earth's axis is tilted about 23.4° to its orbit. At the December solstice the Sun is overhead at the Tropic of Capricorn and as far south as it gets in our sky. The earliest sunset is actually about two weeks before the solstice and the latest sunrise about two weeks after, because of the way Earth's orbit speeds up near January.

Earth seen from space, half in sunlight, with the Americas visible. — Earth on the December solstice of 2011, from the GOES-13 weather satellite, with the north half leaning away from the Sun. Photo: NASA/NOAA GOES Project (NASA Image and Video Library, public domain).

Where to look

Watch where the Sun sets: this week it sets farthest south along your horizon.

What to do

Notice where the Sun sets from your window, and mark it with tape or a drawing.
Look again in a month: it has moved north.
Go out after dark: the longest night is a long time for stars.

More sky events

“If it's cloudy, don't worry. The planets will still be there tomorrow night.”