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Winter solstice 2022, the shortest day of year and the official first day of winter, has arrived.

This year, Armenia marks the winter solstice on Thursday, December 22, which means that from here on out, each day will be longer than the last for the next six months.

The winter and summer solstices occur because Earth is tilted 23.5 degrees on its axis, and the moment of each solstice occurs when the axis is tilted in the direction of the sun. During the winter solstice, South Pole is tilted towards the sun, and during the summer solstice in June, the North Pole is tilted towards the sun, Space.com reports.

During the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, the Earth's axis is perpendicular to the sun, not tilted towards it. (This tilt is why we experience seasons, and why the seasons are flipped in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.)

During the winter solstice, the sun reaches the southernmost point in the sky from the perspective of Earth — at noon, the sun will appear directly overhead of the Tropic of Capricorn, at 23.5 degrees south.