Illumination of Earth by Sun at the southern solstice.

It’s the longest night and shortest day of the year for my half of the world. This season’s Solstice (Winter in the Northern hemisphere, Summer in the Southern), is at 6:08 UTC on December 22, 2007. That’s 1:08 Eastern Time, my time zone. For folks on the West coast of North America, it will occur late Friday, December 21, at 22:08. That’s right now.

Etymology: Latin solstitium (sol “sun” + stitium, from sistere “to stand still”)