The Born Loser by Art and Chip Sansom for December 22, 2015

The “longest day of the year” is the summer solstice which happens around June 21 or 22 each year. While it’s actually the same length as any other day (24 hours), the summer solstice has more hours of daylight than any other day of the year. Conversely, the winter solstice, which happens around December 21 or 22 each year, has more hours of darkness than any other day of the year. There are two days of the year that each have exactly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. Those days are the vernal equinox , which will be on March 20 in 2016 and the autumnal equinox , which will be on September 22 in 2016. All occurrences listed are for the Northern Hemisphere as in the Southern Hemisphere the seasons are reversed (i.e. summer in the north is winter in the south and spring in the north is fall in the south, etc.).

@Fido3Well said.

Apparently Wilberforce’s teacher didn’t explain WHY December 22 has the longest night of the year. One book on astronomy that I read decades ago showed the sun’s path through the sky during the winter solstice, the vernal equinox, and the summer solstice. It showed the sun rising not in the east, but in the southeast, taking a low path across the sky, and setting in the southwest; hence the limited number of daylight hours. For the summer, there was a picture of the sun rising in the east northeast, rising very high in the sky, and setting in the west northwest, hence over 12 hours of daylight for the summer solstice.