Today is the shortest day of the year, lasting 9 hours, 2 minutes and 41 seconds. This is what Pencho Markishki, a physicist at the Institute of Astronomy with the National Astronomical Observatory and the Department of Astronomy at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", told FOCUS News Agency.

"The astronomical winter will come today at 17:59 p.m. Bulgarian time. Today is the shortest day of the year, lasting 9 hours, 2 minutes and 41 seconds, calculated for the Astronomical Observatory of Sofia University in Borisova Garden. Accordingly, the nights are now the longest - nearly 14 hours and 58 minutes for our latitudes.

Today the Sun will pass through the point of the winter solstice in the constellation Sagittarius, and at noon it will culminate the lowest over the southern horizon - at an altitude of only 23 ° 55 ′ for the SU Observatory, at 12:24:46. In summary, the Sun is not rising high above the horizon right now, which is actually the physical reason for winter in the Northern Hemisphere," Markishki said.

"After December 21, the day will start to grow, but at first imperceptibly - only a few seconds on each subsequent date. For example, on December 22 for the Sofia University Observatory the day will last 9 hours, 2 minutes and 43 seconds, and on December 23 - 9 hours, 2 minutes and 49 seconds. The length of the days increases the fastest around the date of the vernal equinox on March 20 - by almost 3 minutes each day. However, this is the pace of shortening the days around the date of the autumn equinox on September 22," he said.

"Logically, the difference in the length of the days is greatest on the dates of the winter and summer solstices. On June 21 this year, the day lasted 15 hours, 19 minutes and 39 seconds for the same observatory, ie. nearly 6 hours and 17 minutes longer than the day of December 21st. This significant difference is actually the reason for the introduction of summer time - in 1916 in Europe. The goal then was to save raw materials and energy in wartime conditions through more efficient use of long summer days. For more than a century, the pros and cons of this measure have not abated, but whether or not it is repealed in the future, we cannot change the root cause that led to its decision - we cannot equate the length of days in year ", added Markishki

/Focus