December 20, 2025
Another trip around the Sun. A whole sky of possibilities.
Birthday · December 20, 2025
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
Free PNG · 1080 × 1350 · No account needed
Image rights and credit requirements apply when sharing or reusing imagery.
Choose an image from another year
Your celebration date stays the same. Each image keeps its actual publication date.
Date & occasion, no name
Change the year
Selected image source ↗ APOD published December 20, 2025. Credit: Marcella Pace. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Read the original APOD for the astronomer’s explanation and full image credits. Its text is preserved in the archive as published.
Read the archived explanation
The word solstice is from the Latin for Sun and to pause or stand still. And in the days surrounding a solstice the Sun's annual north-south drift in planet Earth's sky does slow down, pause, and then reverse direction. So near the solstice the daily path of the Sun through the sky really doesn't change much. In fact, near the December solstice, the Sun's consistent, low arc through northern hemisphere skies, along with low surface temperatures, has left a noticeable imprint on this path to the mountain town of Peaio in northern Italy. The morning frost on the road has melted away only where the sunlight was able to reach the ground. But it remains in the areas persistently shadowed by the fence, tattooing in frost an image of the fence on the asphalt surface.
Image credit: Marcella Pace
Explore December 20 in other years · 31 APOD entries, 1995–2025
Updated · APOD entries through