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From: bill@utastro.UUCP (William H. Jefferys)
Newsgroups: net.astro
Subject: Re: StarDate: December 21: Meteors for the Solstice
Message-ID: <950@utastro.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 21-Dec-84 13:52:36 EST
Article-I.D.: utastro.950
Posted: Fri Dec 21 13:52:36 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 23-Dec-84 08:24:07 EST
References: <6715@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Organization: UTexas Astronomy Dept., Austin, Texas
Lines: 16

>The local (St. Louis) National Weather Service broadcast this morning
>said that "Winter starts at 10:23 AM today" (that's CST). Is that precise
>moment the instant the Earth is closest to the Sun? (The perihelion 
>of its orbit?) Or does that moment refer to something else, and, if so, what?

Perihelion always occurs around January 3-4.  The event that happens today
is the winter Solstice, which means that the Sun's declination (the stellar
equivalent of latitude) is most southerly.  This means in turn that the
daytime today is the shortest of the year (and the longest for those basking
on the beaches of Rio...)
-- 
"When evolution is outlawed, only outlaws will evolve"
	Bill Jefferys  8-%
	Astronomy Dept, University of Texas, Austin TX 78712   (USnail)
	{allegra,ihnp4}!{ut-sally,noao}!utastro!bill	(uucp)
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