Photo of the week: winter solstice

The shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice, occurs this year on December 22, 2015. The Earth, turning on its axis as it circles the sun, is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees relative to its orbit. At the winter solstice, the axis, as seen from the north, tilts directly away from the sun, which is why everything north of the Arctic Circle experiences 24 hours of darkness. The rest of the Northern Hemisphere…