You will hear some refer to today as the “Shortest Day of the Year.” What is meant is today–the first day of winter–is the day we have the shortest amount of daylight of any day during the year. Sunrise today is 7:12 am and sunset is 4:38 pm–meaning we’ll have a total of 9 hours and 26 minutes of daylight today. After today, the amount of daylight will increase just a bit each day until we reach June 20th of 2021–the first day of summer and the day with the most daylight. The total daylight on that day is 14 hours and 55 minutes—meaning we add better than 5 1/2 hours of daylight over the next 6 months.
Meanwhile, skywatchers are looking forward to the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn during the winter solstice. The two planets will appear to join together making a single shining object this week, and will look its brightest on Monday night after sundown. In the northern hemisphere the planets will be visible in the southwestern sky above the horizon.
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