How is it that the earliest sunset of the year and the winter solstice are different days?

Question

How is it that the earliest sunset of the year and the winter solstice are different days?

In: 1

Answer 1

The actual orientation of the planet in space and the way it moves is very complicated. The ELI5 version is that because of that complexity, sunrise happens later. So, one day is the earliest sunset. The next day, maybe sunset happens a minute later but sunrise happens 2 minutes later, so the “day”, which means “time with sunlight”, is a minute shorter than the previous day.