Getting Brighter

As I type this, we already have the lights on inside. It’s a pretty dark day with little sun and whilst the thoughts of long summer evenings seem a million miles away, we can take some solice in the fact that the evenings are about to start getting a bit lighter.

Believe it or not, the sun won’t set any earlier than it does now at the time of writing on Dec 9th. Sunset today will be at 15:51 and will stay like that until Tuesday 17th, when it goes back to 15:52! That really may not seem like much, but it is pleasing to think we’re already past the darkest evening, and we can dream of coming home from work in the light soon enough.

The same can’t be said for the mornings, however. Here in Chislehurst, it won’t be until Dec 31st, aka New Years Eve, that the morning sunrise will move from 08:05, down to 8:04.

We’re also still a few days away from the shortest day, the day with the minimum gap between sunrise and sunset, which this year will be Dec 21st, at 7h:50m:40s. If that seems depressing, just spare a thought for our friends in Baltasound in the Shetland Isles who will only get 5hrs 36 mins of light.