The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, respectively, in the sense that the length of time elapsed between sunrise and sunset on this day is a minimum for the year. Of course, daylight saving time means that the first Sunday in April has 23 hours and the last Sunday in October has 25 hours, but these human meddlings with the calendar and do not correspond to the actual number of daylight hours.
http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/WinterSolstice.html
The last meteor shower of the year will span from the 17th through the 25th, though it will peak overnight on the 22nd with about 10 sightings per hour. Because the shower’s peak coincides with the new moon, it should be a great time to view the meteors and close up a fantastic year of skywatching. These meteors will appear to originate from the Ursa Minor constellation.
In 2015, the bright waxing gibbous moon will wash out but the brightest Quadrantid meteors. Some meteors will be visible each night from 1 Jan to 6 Jan, but the best show will be between midnight and dawn on January 3 and/or 4, especially if you live at a northerly latitude.
see http://cantonbecker.com/retrograde for details…