December Solstice 2026

What this countdown tracks

The clock counts down to the December solstice of 2026, which occurs at 20:50 UTC on Monday, December 21, 2026. At that instant the Sun reaches its southernmost declination, the Northern Hemisphere has its shortest day of the year and the Southern Hemisphere its longest, and astronomical winter (Northern) and astronomical summer (Southern) begin.

About this celestial event

The 2026 December solstice falls on a Monday evening UTC, four days before Christmas. Local times for the 20:50 UTC instant: 15:50 in New York (EST), 20:50 in London (GMT), 21:50 in Paris and Berlin (CET), 23:50 in Moscow, 02:20 on December 22 in New Delhi, and 05:50 on December 22 in Tokyo. North America observes the solstice on December 21 local time; most of Eurasia observes it on December 21 in time zones west of Moscow and on December 22 east of it.

What's astronomically distinctive about 2026: the December solstice falls just two days before the December 23 supermoon — the closest full moon of 2026, with a perigee distance of approximately 357,400 km. The solstice night is therefore exceptionally bright, with the near-full Moon already 99% illuminated; northern-hemisphere observers will see the supermoon rise in the early evening of the solstice itself. The Geminid meteor shower peak (December 13-14) has long since faded, but the Ursid shower has its smaller peak on the night of the solstice itself — a 5-10 meteors-per-hour radiant near the bowl of Ursa Minor.

At Newgrange in Ireland the December sunrise of December 21, 2026 illuminates the inner chamber of the 5,000-year-old passage tomb at approximately 09:00 GMT — the live-streamed event run by Ireland's Office of Public Works.

What to expect

At London or Berlin December 21 runs only about eight hours of daylight; New York gets nine; Mumbai 11; everywhere north of the Arctic Circle is in 24-hour darkness. From the solstice onward the days lengthen again — slowly at first (about a minute a day at temperate latitudes) and then accelerating through January.

The classic observances: Newgrange's lottery-allocated chamber viewing (the Office of Public Works streams the alignment live); Stonehenge's evening solstice gathering at the December sunset (English Heritage opens the stones); Iran's Shab-e Yalda the longest-night vigil with pomegranates and Hafez poetry; the Inca Inti Raymi festival in Cusco (which celebrates the June solstice in the southern hemisphere, the southern-summer equivalent). Modern Christmas inherits its date from the late-Roman repurposing of the December solstice festival of Sol Invictus.

Past solstices

• December 21, 2025 — solstice at 15:03 UTC
• December 21, 2024 — solstice at 09:21 UTC
• December 22, 2023 — solstice at 03:27 UTC
• December 21, 2022 — solstice at 21:48 UTC
• December 21, 2021 — solstice at 15:59 UTC
• December 21, 2020 — solstice at 10:02 UTC (the rare "great conjunction" of Jupiter and Saturn at sunset)

How to observe

The US Naval Observatory, UK Met Office and timeanddate.com publish the exact instant. The Office of Public Works in Ireland streams the Newgrange chamber alignment from a fixed-position camera inside the passage tomb. English Heritage covers the Stonehenge sunset. Iranian state TV carries Shab-e Yalda live. The full supermoon of December 23 is best photographed at moonrise local time, ideally framed against the eastern horizon.

Related countdowns

The December solstice anchors the year-end alongside March equinox 2026, June solstice 2026, and September equinox 2026. Pair with Supermoon December 2026 for the supermoon two days later, Geminid meteor shower 2026 for the December showers calendar, and Christmas 2026 for the holiday-season run-in.

FAQ

When is the December solstice 2026? Monday, December 21, 2026 at 20:50 UTC. Why is it the shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere? Because Earth's North Pole is tilted furthest from the Sun on this date. What's special about 2026? The solstice falls two days before the December 23 supermoon — the closest full moon of 2026. Can I see the Newgrange chamber alignment? Only by entering the public lottery; Ireland's Office of Public Works also live-streams the chamber camera from inside the passage tomb.