The Winter Solstice: First Day of Winter 2012

In 2012, the earliest winter since 1896 arrives with the solstice at 6:12 A.M. on December 21 (EST) [16.42PM IST] IST : Indian Standard Time [Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) 5.5] EST : Eastern Standard Time (GMT -5) Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) was established in 1884 at the International Meridian Conference, when it was decided to place the Prime Meridian at Greenwich, England. It is same as Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) A prime meridian is a meridian, i.e. a line of longitude, at which longitude is defined to be 0 . Greenwich is a place in England with Longitude 0 0' 0" , Latitude 51 28' 38"N (North of the Equator) The Greenwich Meridian (Prime Meridian or Longitude Zero degrees) marks the starting point of every time zone in the World. GMT is Greenwich Mean (or Meridian) Time is the mean (average) time that the earth takes to rotate from noon-to-noon.

The Winter Solstice

Winter inspires both joy and woe. Some people can't wait for the cooler weather, snow, skiing and ice skating, curling up by a fire, and the holiday spirit. Other people dislike the frigid temperatures, blizzards, and wild weather. The word solstice comes from the Latin words for "sun" and "to stand still. In the Northern Hemisphere, as summer advances to winter, the points on the horizon where the Sun rises and sets advance southward each day; the high point in the Suns daily path across the sky, which occurs at local noon, also moves southward each day. At the winter solstice, the Suns path has reached its southernmost position. The next day, the path will advance northward. However, a few days before and after the winter solstice, the change is so slight that the Suns path seems to stay the same, or stand still. The Sun is directly overhead at "high-noon" on Winter Solstice at the latitude called the Tropic of Capricorn. In the Northern Hemisphere, the solstice days are the days with the fewest hours of sunlight during the whole year. Winter solstice marks the beginning of the gradual increase of the duration of the day. Scientifically, the shortest day of the year is on Winter Solstice after which the days begin to get longer, hence actual Winter Solstice begins on December 21 or December 22 when the tropical sun enters Makara rashi. Hence actual Uttarayana is on this day. This was the actual date of Makar Sakranti too. But because of the Earth's tilt of 23.45 degrees and sliding of equinoxes, Ayanamsa occurs. This has caused Makara Sankranti to slide further over the ages. A thousand years ago, Makar Sankranti was on December 31 and is now on January 14. Five thousand years later, it shall be by the end of February, while in 9,000 years it shall come in June [wikipedia].