Today marks the official start of winter in Oman for 2025, coinciding with the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. This astronomical event brings the shortest day and the longest night of the year, occurring at 7:03 PM local time.
Maather bint Khamis Al Wahibiyah, Chair of the Community Outreach Committee at the Omani Society for Astronomy and Space, explained that in Muscat, the sun will rise at 6:44 AM and set at 5:25 PM, making the day 10 hours and 41 minutes long. Winter will last for 88 days, 23 hours, and 42 minutes.
She clarified that the winter solstice results from the tilt of the Earth's axis at approximately 23.5 degrees during its orbit around the sun, not due to the Earth’s distance from the sun. The Northern Hemisphere receives minimal sunlight, while the Southern Hemisphere enjoys maximum exposure, producing winter in the north and summer in the south.
During this event, the sun reaches its farthest point south in the sky, and the North Pole tilts away from the sun. This creates variations in day length across the globe. In polar regions, phenomena like the Midnight Sun occur, where the sun remains above or below the horizon all day. The sun rises from the far southeast, and shadows reach their longest lengths during this period.
The solstice follows the autumnal equinox of September, during which the sun gradually shifted southward. The Northern Hemisphere now experiences its shortest day, before daylight gradually increases until the spring equinox on March 20, 2026.
Al Wahibiyah concluded by noting that the Earth rotates twice: around its axis once every 24 hours, producing day and night, and around the sun once every 365.25 days, creating the cycle of seasons and making the winter solstice a notable astronomical event.
