Ever feel like the days dragging by?
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Well, you’ll enjoy this Tuesday because it’s the shortest day and longest night of the year.
It’s the Winter Solstice here in Australia which astronomically marks the first day of Winter.
The sun reaches its furthest point north for the year and begins moving southward.
![TAKE PRECAUTIONS: Safe solar viewing glasses are one way of taking part in the upcoming Winter Solstice. TAKE PRECAUTIONS: Safe solar viewing glasses are one way of taking part in the upcoming Winter Solstice.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/Q9r3V9AUcqpAGD3DNsaA9W/520b5ed1-1b66-42bc-b02a-6187a1a4b398.jpg/r0_123_1499_952_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
“When we talk about astronomy we usually only mention the stars and planets. But there’s another sort of astronomy and it’s to do with the sun,” said Dave Reneke from Australasian Science Magazine.
“It’s called ‘solar astronomy’ and on Tuesday my astronomy group and individuals around the world will celebrate the World Wide Solstice Festival.”
It’s a world-wide celebration of the sun involving dozens of countries and thousands of participants performing safe solar viewing, solar projection and solar photography using very expensive solar telescopes.
With new solar filtering technology we can now safely see real time views of our closest star like we’ve never imagined.
“Don’t have any equipment? No problem,” Dave said.
“You can take part simply by heading to our Facebook site and searching for World Wide Solstice Festival.
“Throughout the following 24 hours you’ll see postings of the sun coming in from around the world, and see the people taking part.”