View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Rob Ratkowski took this all-sky view from Haleakala Observatory in Hawaii in 2023. It shows the path of the sun across the sky at the solstices (top and bottom) and at the equinoxes (center). Thanks, Rob! Find more personal solstices below!
Read December solstice 2024 all you need to know
Personal solstices, from the EarthSky community
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Doug Pederson in Minneapolis, Minnesota, captured this scene on December 21, 2023. Doug wrote: “We host a solstice s’mores party every year on the solstice. Seems to bring out all types in our neighborhood, and this year will be our 12th annual event. A lot of kids have grown up but still come back!” Thank you, Doug!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Rick Williams of Woodland, California, wrote in December 2020: “This was taken one day before last year’s solstice, at noon. I have a small mirror in front of my house, which reflects the sun onto my outside wall. Every day, I mark the reflection on the wall exactly at noon, which delineates an analemma over the course of a year. It took me a couple of years to get it done. Since the sun is lower in the sky, its reflection is lower on the wall. At the solstice (sol = sun, sistere = to stand still), the sun seems to pause and reverse its course. It is directly overhead at noon at 23.5 deg S, Tropic of Capricorn.” Thank you, Rick!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Laurel Sherrie shared this photo of herself on December 21, 2020. She wrote: “Plein air painting at Point Buchon Trail, Los Osos, California. This is a rock formation we call Stonehenge, and it never disappoints. It was magical to be there for the winter solstice. Just a cell phone. A friend took the photo of me painting a favorite coastal scene on the winter solstice. So magical!” Thank you, Laurel!
More from our community
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jeff Schreier captured this image on the winter solstice in Sandy Hook, New Jersey. Jeff wrote: “Treehenge is located on Sandy Hook Bay in Ft. Hancock, New Jersey. On every summer solstice, the sun sets in the center opening of this small tree. Here on the winter solstice, the sun sets far to the left, while a barge holds its position and reflects its light.” Thank you, Jeff!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Markham Starr captured this image at the 2019 December solstice in North Stonington, Connecticut. He wrote: “Native American winter solstice sunrise wall. Sun rises over the next hilltop 7/10 of a mile away. There is a spring right where the sun rises over that ridge line, so the sun also rises over water.” Thank you, Markham!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Leslie Scopes-Anderson in Cooperstown, New York, captured this image at the December 2017 solstice. She wrote: “Sunset on a frozen pond shows the returning of the light.” Thank you, Leslie!Judy Glattstein in New Jersey wrote in 2016, “Houses here are spread apart. No chimneys, no standing stones. But in the cold of a solstice morning the trees serve to define the rising of the sun.” Thank you, Judy!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Raul Cortes in Monterrey, Mexico, created this personal solstices composite from images captured on December 22, 2021. He wrote: “Mountain and sun attended their annual winter solstice reunion. The sun showed over the Horse Saddle Hill exactly in the middle of the saddle on December 22 for this 2021 solstice, as seen from El Obispado Hill in Monterrey, Mexico. Once again, they met together on this day, as they did last year and will do next year.” Thank you, Raul!
Personal solstices in shadows
These next few are all about shadows. Ben Orlove wrote in 2016: “On the mornings close to the winter solstice, when the sun’s course is at its lowest and southernmost, the shadow of a chimney across the street from my building falls directly on the peak of the adjacent roof and lands on the wall next to it. Our own Stonehenge!” Thank you, Ben!Capturing the year’s longest noontime shadow – December 21, 2016 – in Hyderabad, India. Photo by PadmaSri Naidu.Athens, Greece, at noon on the day of the solstice – December 21, 2016 – by Nikolaos Pantazis. Notice the long shadows!View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Wells Shoemaker captured this image on the day of the December solstice in 2005 in Death Valley National Park. He said: “The Eureka Dunes, rising 750 feet (230 meters) above the desert floor, are among the tallest in North America. The low solstice sun casts the longest shadows of the year.” Thanks, Wells!
Bottom line: Some people like to mark the solstice with a special sunset view, or marking of shadows, or party! Personal solstices from the EarthSky community, here.
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