Crowds of revellers gathered at Stonehenge on Friday to welcome the sunrise for this year's winter solstice.
The winter solstice marks the shortest day of the year. The sun rose at 8.09am and will set at 4.02pm - meaning there will be less than eight hours of daylight.
This means that the length of the day during the winter solstice is 8 hours, 49 minutes shorter than the summer solstice.
In the northern hemisphere, the Earth's axis is tilted at its furthest point from the sun today.
The public are allowed to walk amongst the world-famous stones from 7.45am to 10am as the solstice is one of the few key occasions where English Heritage allow people to do so.
The historic site is popular to visit because you can glimpse the Sun’s rays through the stones which are lined up with the path of the Sun.
Wiltshire Police said roads around Stonehenge were extremely busy due to people gathering at the site to mark the winter solstice.
English Heritage urged those making the journey to remember that Stonehenge is an ancient monument and considered by many to be a sacred place.
"We want to ensure that everyone who joins us for this celebration has a great experience and a safe and enjoyable visit to Stonehenge, and as always, we ask everybody to please respect the stones,” it said.
The word ‘solstice’ comes from the Latin 'solstitium', meaning 'Sun stands still'.
This is because the apparent movement of the Sun's path north or south stops before changing direction.
