People are sharing the most stunning images to celebrate the winter solstice

Today will be the shortest day of the year as the winter solstice marks the official start of the season.

While it's probably no one's choice to have a minimal amount of sunlight, spare a thought for those in the Arctic Circle, for whom the sun will not rise at all. While in Antarctica, it won't get dark for 24 hours.

The solstice officially happened late last night (in North America)/early this morning (Europe). While for many of us it feels like winter has been around forever, this marks the official start of the season, which lasts until 20 March.

The solstice is caused by the tilt in the planet's axis, which means that as we continue to orbit the sun, the northern hemisphere will experience shortest days, longest nights, and the sun hanging at its lowest in the daytime sky.

To celebrate, people were posting some pretty cool images.

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