Today is Tuesday, December 24: day 359 of the year according to the Gregorian calendar. The year will end in 7 days.
The sun will rise at 9:00 Moscow time, and at 16:00 it will go below the horizon. At 12:30 the luminary will be at its zenith.
Daylight hours will last 7 hours, and darkness will last 17 hours.
Church holidays
Week 27 after Pentecost. Nativity Fast. Commemoration day of the Venerables Daniel the Stylite and Nikon Sukhoi of the Caves in the Near Caves.
Name days: Daniil, Leonty, Emelyan, Peter, Terentiy, Ivan, Vikenty, Nikolay.
Secular holidays
Today, Russia celebrates one of the days of military glory – the Day of the capture of the Turkish fortress of Izmail by Russian troops under the command of Alexander Suvorov (1790).
Events of December 24
In 1801, the first steam car was demonstrated in England.
In 1924, the monarchy was abolished in Albania and a republic was proclaimed.
In 1982, the first flight of the prototype of the An-124 Ruslan military transport aircraft took place.
In 1991, Russia took the USSR's place in the UN.
Who was born on December 24
In 1818, one of the founders of thermodynamics, physicist James Prescott Joule, was born.
In 1905, People's Artist of the USSR, actress Lyubov Dobrzhanskaya was born.
In 1924, People's Artist of Russia, announcer Viktor Balashov was born.
In 1961, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev was born.
In 1981, the singer Dima Bilan was born.
Folk omens
A clear and frosty morning promises consistently cold weather without sudden thaws.
A gusty wind foretells alternating cold and thaw.
If the weather clears up and the wind dies down in the evening, then a quieter winter is expected in the coming weeks.
