Solstice - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

SOLSTICE (Lat. solstitium, from sol, sun, and sistere, to stand still), in astronomy either of the two points at which the sun reaches its greatest declination north or south. Each solstice is upon the ecliptic midway between the equinoxes, and therefore go from each. The term is also applied to the moment at which the sun reaches the point thus defined.