When is the winter solstice 2026, and how short is the day?

The winter solstice 2026 falls on Monday, 21 December, at 20:50 UT. In New York that is 3:50 p.m., in London 8:50 p.m., and in Japan and Australia the clock has already moved on to 22 December (5:50 a.m. in Tokyo, 7:50 a.m. in Sydney). North of the equator it is the shortest day of the year. South of it, the longest.

At that moment the Sun stands directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, its southernmost point of the year, and then starts back north. The name comes from Latin for “Sun stands still”: for a few days around the solstice the sunrise and sunset points on your horizon barely move.

Solstice time and day length in five cities

City	Solstice (local time)	Sunrise / sunset on solstice day	Daylight
New York	21 Dec, 3:50 p.m.	7:16 a.m. / 4:31 p.m.	9 h 15 min
Los Angeles	21 Dec, 12:50 p.m.	6:54 a.m. / 4:47 p.m.	9 h 53 min
London	21 Dec, 8:50 p.m.	8:03 a.m. / 3:53 p.m.	7 h 50 min
Tokyo	22 Dec, 5:50 a.m.	6:47 a.m. / 4:31 p.m.	9 h 44 min
Sydney	22 Dec, 7:50 a.m.	5:41 a.m. / 8:05 p.m.	14 h 25 min

I calculated these with the open-source Astronomy Engine library and checked New York and Tokyo against timeanddate.com; they agree, though calculators can differ by a minute because of rounding and refraction. The farther from the equator, the bigger the effect: Helsinki gets 5 h 49 min, and in Kiruna in Swedish Lapland the Sun doesn’t rise at all from 11 December until the end of the month.

Earliest sunset and latest sunrise are on other days

This trips up a lot of people. The shortest day is not the day with the earliest sunset. Solar noon moves a little later each day in December, so sunsets start getting later before the solstice while sunrises keep getting later after it.

City	Earliest sunset	Latest sunrise
New York	about 7 Dec, 4:28 p.m.	about 4 Jan, 7:20 a.m.
London	about 12 Dec, 3:51 p.m.	about 30 Dec, 8:06 a.m.
Tokyo	early Dec (around 6 Dec), 4:27 p.m.	about 7 Jan, 6:51 a.m.

So if your evenings feel a bit lighter by Christmas, you’re not imagining it. Mornings stay dark into January. By 31 January London is back to just over 9 hours of daylight.

What to see on the longest night

The solstice night is long (about 16 hours from sunset to sunrise in London, nearly 15 in New York), and 2026 gives it a decent sky.

• Saturn is in the south after dusk, a steady yellowish point in the faint constellation Cetus, and sets around half past midnight.
• Jupiter rises in the east around 9 p.m. in Leo, the brightest point in that part of the sky. Mars follows about an hour later, also in Leo.
• Venus rises around 3 to 4 a.m. and blazes in the southeast before dawn.
• The Moon is a bright waxing gibbous, about 90% lit, so faint stars and the Milky Way will be washed out. It becomes full on 24 December, the closest full Moon of 2026; more in the supermoon 2026 guide.

The Ursid meteor shower also peaks on the night of 21 to 22 December, according to the International Meteor Organization. It’s a small shower, normally 5 to 10 meteors an hour at best, and this year the Moon is 89% lit on peak night. Expect only the brighter ones. The radiant is near the Little Dipper, so it’s a Northern Hemisphere shower, highest in the hours before dawn. For a stronger show, the Geminids on 13 to 14 December have a dark sky this year.

In the Southern Hemisphere

In Australia, South America and southern Africa, 22 December (21 December in the Americas) is the summer solstice and the longest day: 14 h 25 min in Sydney. The planets are the same ones but in different spots. From Sydney, Saturn is in the northwest at dusk, Jupiter rises around 11:30 p.m., and Venus comes up around 3 a.m.

How Sky Map helps

I build Sky Map, so weigh this with that in mind. On solstice night, point the AR view at the sky and it labels Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and Venus over the camera image; the planet visibility timeline shows when each one rises and sets where you are. The astronomical calendar lists meteor showers such as the Ursids, and Tonight’s Sky Conditions shows cloud cover before you go outside. To find the Ursid radiant, search for Ursa Minor. Sky Map: Constellation Finder is free to download on the App Store, with some features paid; more on the Sky Map app page. For other nights, see which planets are visible tonight.

Sources: timeanddate.com: December solstice (21 December 2026, 20:50 UTC, Tropic of Capricorn, earliest sunset and latest sunrise), timeanddate.com: New York sunrise and sunset, December 2026 (9:15:17 daylight on 21 December, earliest sunset 7-8 December), timeanddate.com: Tokyo, December 2026 (9:44:27 on 22 December, earliest sunset 6 December), timeanddate.com: Kiruna, December 2026 (no sunrise from 11 December); NAOJ: Tokyo sky calendar, December 2026 (solstice on 22 December JST at solar longitude 270°, full Moon on 24 December closest of 2026, planet brightness); International Meteor Organization: meteor shower calendar (Ursids active 17-26 December, peak night 21-22 December, 5-10 per hour, Moon 89%). City times, day lengths, planet rise and set times: my calculation with Astronomy Engine. Checked 5 November 2026. All times are predictions.