#solstice

Having thoughts around how medieval peasants used to have a lot more holidays and time off than we do in modern days, and how pagan holiday observances like #ostra and #Solstice are becoming more popular each year.

The math behind how fast the days are getting longer now in Spring – or shorter, in the Autumn:
https://joe-antognini.github.io/astronomy/daylight

#daylight #solstice #equinox

Ma grande passion, ce sont les fêtes païennes. J'ai écrit une vingtaine d'articles dessus et je suis en train de terminer un cycle de dessins sur le sujet.
Voici "Le cercle de Litha", la fête du Solstice d'été, encore célébrée dans des endroits mythiques comme Stonehenge, qui m'a donné l'idée des pierres dressées pour ce dessin numérique.

A4:
https://ysae-illustrations.fr/produit/le-cercle-de-litha-dessin-numerique-imprime/
Et en carte postale:
https://ysae-illustrations.fr/produit/le-cercle-de-litha-carte-postale/

#litha #solsticedété #solstice #summersolstice #dessinnumerique #digitalArt #pagan

Mt. Baker Ridge Sunset Stones in Seattle, Washington

These split boulders mark equinoxes and solstices along the Seattle skyline.#solstice #sun #equinox #section-Atlas
Mt. Baker Ridge Sunset Stones

2 first video
Sun + Snowy Woods Winter Solstice: Darkness to Balance Light
#winter #Solstice #NatureWorship #GetOutside
#Spectra #Peertube and YouTube links:
https://spectra.video/w/7QiTf1CRCYKuwEAraqQ5BK
https://youtube.com/shorts/J9gBqE1_wq4?feature=share

as i return to this platform, may i wish everyone a cozy winter season. here's a belated post of my winter greetings image made for the SF chapter of the IWW.

gold starts to anyone who can name the easter eggs / references on the toy shelf!

#sabocat #iww #onebigunion #sabotage #nobosses #blackcat #motherjones #solstice

Time for Perihelion

Earth’s elliptical orbit viewed at an angle (which makes it look more eccentric than it is – in reality is very nearly circular).

At 13.28 GMT today (Saturday 4th January 2025), the Earth reaches its perihelion. At this time the distance from the Sun’s centre to Earth’s centre will be 147,103,686 km. This year, aphelion (the furthest distance from the Sun) is at 20.54 GMT on July 3rd 2025 at which point the centre of the Earth will be 152,087,738 km from the centre of the Sun. You can find a list of times and dates of perihelion and aphelion for future years here.

At perihelion the speed of the Earth in its orbit around the Sun is greater than at aphelion (about 30.287 km/s versus 29.291 km/s). This difference, caused by the Earth’s orbital eccentricity, contributes to the difference between mean time and solar time which, among other things, influences the time of sunrise and sunset at the winter solstice that happened a couple of weeks or so ago.

It surprises me how many people think that the existence of the seasons has something to do with the variation of the Earth’s distance from the Sun as it moves in its orbit in that the closer to the Sun we get the warmer the weather will be. The fact that perihelion occurs in the depth of winter should convince anyone living in the Northern hemisphere that this just can’t be the case, as should the fact that it’s summer in the Southern hemisphere while it is winter in the North.

The real reason for the existence of seasons is the tilt of the Earth’s axis of rotation. I used to do a little demonstration with a torch (flashlight to American readers) to illustrate this when I taught first-year astrophysics. If you shine a torch horizontally at a piece of card it will illuminate a patch of the card. Keep the torch at the same distance but tilt the card and you will see the illuminated patch increase in size. The torch is radiating the same amount of energy but in the second case that energy is spread over a larger area than in the first. This means that the energy per unit area incident on the card is decreases when the card is tilted. It is that which is responsible for winter being colder than summer. In the summer the sun is higher in the sky (on average) than in winter. From this argument you can infer that the winter solstice not the perihelion, is the relevant astronomical indicator of winter.

That is not to say that the shape of the Earth’s orbit has no effect on temperatures. It may, for example, contribute to the summer in the Southern hemisphere being hotter than in the North, although it is not the only effect. The Earth’s surface possesses a significant North-South asymmetry: there is a much larger fraction of ocean in the Southern hemisphere, for example, which could be responsible for moderating any differences in temperature due to insolation. The climate is a non-linear system that involves circulating air and ocean currents that respond in complicated ways and on different timescales not just to insolation but to many other parameters, including atmospheric composition (especially the amount of water vapour).

The dates when Earth reaches the extreme points on its orbit (apsides) are not fixed because of the variations in its orbital eccentricity so, in the short-term, the dates can vary up to 2 days from one year to another. The perihelion distance varies slightly from year to year too; it’s slightly larger this year than last year, for example.

There is however a long-term trend for perihelion to occur later in the year. For example, in 1246, the December Solstice (winter solstice for the Northern Hemisphere) was on the same day as the Earth’s perihelion. Since then, the perihelion and aphelion dates have drifted by an average of one day every 58 years. This trend will continue, meaning that by the year 6430 the timing of the perihelion and the March Equinox will coincide, although I hope to have retired by then…

#ellipticalOrbits #perihelion #solstice #WinterSolstice

Our #resolution this 'new year' is that in fact it began with the Winter #Solstice and runs through 13 Dark s to the next Winter Solstice. We will celebrate each dark and full Moon.

We intend to #ReclaimTime and the #patriarchal control of #time in the settler-colonial #Gregorian #calendar. This completely eliminates the #Moon which belongs to virtually every #Indigenous #cosmology. Cosmic time reckons with and

Look Westerly on a bright #London horizon this evening for the setting. Tomorrow late night lie with your feet NE and look up for the #Quadrantids (bring a blanket!)

Read more on #lunarchy here
https://www.jstor.org/stable/48713458

On this day of light
Rainbow coincidence caught
Palm prism imprint
#haiku #Window #Solstice #Photography #MyBody #ArtAsMeditation

Now It Has Been Confirmed: – The Largest Burial Mound In Western Norway

https://riksantikvaren.no/na-er-det-bekreftet-den-storste-gravhaugen-pa-vestlandet/ <-- shared technical article
--
#GIS #spatial #mapping #survey #remotesensing #groundpenetratingradar #GPR #tingmound #Karnilshaugen #TinghaugenpåHauge #Norway #astronomical #solstice #cairn #pagan #religious #solar #IronAge #burialmound #archaeology #Viking #protected #Gloppefjord #fjord #georadar #soil #manmade #WorldHeritage #nomination

Break in the grey days #today; celebrated the sun w/ a trip to Dick Blick Art Supplies, knowing it would not dissapoint.
#mini #tinsel #tree #pegasus #unicorn #rubber #ducky #oasis in #Manhattan #NYC #DickBlick #art #supplies #pencil #case #three #pack #sunny #post #Solstice #day #Sunday #funday #celebrate

Under a 'grandma moon,' Native Americans honor their sacred pact with salmon
https://www.npr.org/2024/12/29/nx-s1-5232064/under-grandma-moon-native-americans-honor-their-sacred-pact-with-salmon

#indiginous #solstice #NewYear

Under 'Grandma moon' Native Americans honor sacred pact w. salmon
https://www.npr.org/2024/12/29/nx-s1-5232064/under-grandma-moon-native-americans-honor-their-sacred-pact-with-salmon

* Puget Sound area, WA state
* lush lands home of Nisqually tribe
* Nisqually Indian Tribe members gathered for Winter Moon Celebration on this soggy solstice
* salmon a 10k-year-old taste, wh. recalls their ancestors: "It just tastes like time"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisqually_people
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisqually

#Indigenous #PugetSound #Nisqually #CoastSalish #salmon #GrandmaMoon #WinterMoon #solstice #IndigenousFood

#rhimefrost, #frostyday, #solstice, #season’sgreetings, #outdoorphotography, #naturephotography, #itsabeautifulworld

Proof I was oot and aboot, last night. Went to a tree trimming party briefly and hung an ornament (stayed masked). This was on the way home, in front of a restaurant/ hookah place on my block. The lights there will cycle colors; I like the warm white.
#Happy #Yule #tree #trimming #party #Manhattan #sidewalk #selfie #restaurant #hookah #place #decor #ornament #NYC #NewYorkCity #high #rise #doorman #building #Solstice #longer #days #time to #celebrate #reason #season #Winter in #midtown

A couple more views of the endless #Winter #decorations here (someone is tireless! I just take pictures...lol) and wishes that all might have a beautiful #MidWinter whether your observances -incidental or deliberate! -are traditional, beyond tradition or ancient! (choose your #greetings ..lol) #Solstice #Christmas #Pagan #WinterBright

jeez. Imagine being so f'ing fragile about other people not celebrating your religion right that you pay for a billboard! #WarOnChristmas #ReligiousPrivilege #Solstice #atheism #science #religion #MerryChristmas #Christmas

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:cmshsgi5mseyge7epmgjjile/post/3le3hijaqls2s

A fun little design I made for the Christmas/Yule/Solstice season.

#art #somethingimade #craft #crafts #crafting #artisian #artisinal #crossstitch #cross-stitch #needlepoint #embroidery #christmas #yule #solstice #holiday #zelda #link #nintendo #nerd #geek #videogame

#ArtAdventCalendar Day 23 +24 more of our #festive #decorations call them #Christmas or #Solstice either way we keep them up for many weeks- especially the #lights - to brighten the dark months. We have a birthday in the second week of December another mid January, so our season extends at least that far, usually a couple more weeks each side!
#MidWinter #WinterBright #Holiday #WinterSolstice #pagan