Winter solstice instant of the solstice can be calculated, direct observation of the solstice by amateurs is impossible because the sun moves too slowly or appears to stand still (the meaning of "solstice"). However, by use of astronomical data tracking, the precise timing of its occurrence is now public knowledge. One cannot directly detect the precise instant of the solstice (by definition, one cannot observe that an object has stopped moving until one later observes that it has not moved further from the preceding spot, or that it has moved in the opposite direction). Further, to be precise to a single day,
Six Months in a Convent Six Months in a Convent Six Months in a Convent is a memoir written by Rebecca Reed and published in 1835. It is an account of her stay at the Ursuline Convent in Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1832. The account was primarily written before, and published after, the 1834 Ursuline Convent riots, in which the facility was destroyed by rioting Protestants, and may have played a role in inspiring those riots. Reed was a witness at trials involving accused participants in the rioting. Rebecca Reed was a young Episcopalian woman from Boston who had attended the school operated by the Ursulines