Today, Wednesday, 21st of December of 2016 is the 356th day of the year.
There are 10 days remaining until the end of the year.
The sun will rise in San Francisco at 7:22 am
and sunset will be at 4:55 pm.
Today we will have 9 hours and 33 minutes of daylight.
That's 14 hours and 27 minutes of darkness.
The solar transit will be at 12:09 pm.
The first high tide will be at 5:56 am
and the next high tide at 5:57 pm.
The first low tide will be at 12:12 pm
and the next low tide at 11:39 pm.
The lunar phase is practically a quarter moon The Moon is 45.2% illuminated, now a Waning Crescent
Moonrise Today: 12:20 am↑ 89° East
Moonset Today: 12:41 pm↑ 269° West
New Moon a week from today on Wednesday 28th of December of 2016 at 10:53 pm
First Quarter Moon in 15 days on Thursday 5th of January of 2017 at 11:47 am
Full Moon in 22 days on a Thursday the 12th of January of 2017 at 3:34 am
Last Quarter Moon in 29 days also on a Thursday, the 19th of January of 2017 at 2:14 pm
Winter Solstice occurred on this morning at 2:44 AM
In the Northern Hemisphere, December 21st is usually the shortest day of the year and is sometimes regarded as the first day of winter.
In the Southern Hemisphere, December 21st is usually the longest day of the year and occurs during the southern summer.
...and its related observances:
Blue Christmas (Western Christianity)
Dongzhi Festival in Asia
San-gha-mit-ta Day in Theravada Buddhism
Yule in the Northern Hemisphere in the Neopagan Wheel of the Year
Zie-mass-vēt-ki in ancient Latvia
Channukah begins on Saturday December 24 runs through to Sunday January 1
Kwanzaa begins on Monday December 26 and also continues to Sunday January 1
Today is The first day of Pan-cha Ga-na-pa-ti, celebrated until December 25 celebrated in the Saiva Siddhanta Church
Today is Anne and Samantha Day
Crossword Puzzle Day
Humbug Day
National Flashlight Day
National French Fried Shrimp Day
National Hamburger Day
National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day
National Kiwi Fruit Day
National Look at the Bright Side Day
Phileas Fogg Win a Wager Day
Short Girl Appreciation Day
It's also...
Armed Forces Day in The Philippines
Forefathers' Day in Plymouth, Massachusetts
São Tomé Day in São Tomé and Príncipe
If today is your birthday, Happy Birthday To You! Happy Birthday also to...
1795 – Jack Russell, English priest, hunter, and dog breeder (d. 1883)
1804 – Benjamin Disraeli, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1881)
1879 – Joseph Stalin, the Soviet statesman who was leader of the Communist Party and dictator of the Soviet Union for 25 years was born Josef Dzhugashvili in Gori, Georgia.
1892 – Rebecca West, English journalist and author (d. 1983)
1898 – Scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered the radioactive element radium.
1911 – Josh Gibson, American baseball player (d. 1947)
1915 – Werner von Trapp, Austrian-American singer (d. 2007)
1917 – Heinrich Böll, German soldier and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
1918 – Donald Regan, American colonel and politician, 11th White House Chief of Staff (d. 2003)
1918 – Kurt Waldheim, Austrian colonel, war criminal, and politician, 9th President of Austria (d. 2007)
1922 – Paul Winchell, American actor, voice artist, and ventriloquist (d. 2005)
1935 – Phil Donahue, American talk show host and producer
1937 – Jane Fonda, American actress, producer, and activist
1940 – Frank Zappa, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 1993)
1942 – Hu Jintao, Chinese engineer and politician, 6th President of China
1944 – Michael Tilson Thomas, American pianist, composer, and conductor
1947 – Paco de Lucía, Spanish guitarist, songwriter, and producer (d. 2014)
1948 – Samuel L. Jackson, American actor and producer
1950 – Jeffrey Katzenberg, American screenwriter and producer, co-founded DreamWorks Animation
1953 – András Schiff, Hungarian-English pianist and conductor
1966 – Kiefer Sutherland, Canadian actor, director, and producer
1967 – Ervin Johnson, American basketball player
On this day in history...
1826 – American settlers in Nacogdoches, Mexican Texas, declare their independence, starting the Fredonian Rebellion.
1844 – The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers commences business at its cooperative in Rochdale, England, starting the Cooperative movement.
1861 – Medal of Honor: Public Resolution 82, containing a provision for a Navy Medal of Valor, is signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln.
1879 – World premiere of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark.
1913 – Arthur Wynne's "word-cross", the first crossword puzzle, is published in the New York World.
1919 – American anarchist Emma Goldman is deported to Russia.
1937 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world's first full-length animated feature, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre.
1948 – Ireland became an independent republic.
1958 – Charles de Gaulle was elected the first president of France's Fifth Republic.
1968 – Apollo program: Apollo 8 is launched from the Kennedy Space Center, placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first visit to another celestial body by humans.
1970 – Elvis Presley met with President Richard M. Nixon in the Oval Office to discuss fighting drugs.
1973 – The Geneva Conference on the Arab–Israeli conflict opens.
1988 – A bomb explodes on board Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, killing 270.
1995 – The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control.
1996 – After two years of denials, House Speaker Newt Gingrich admitted violating House ethics rules.