There is a Winter Solstice livestream from Newgrange this morning to mark the shortest day of the year.

The livestream hopes to capture the Winter Solstice illumination of the 19-metre long passage inside the 5,200 year-old tomb.

Hundreds of people have gathered in county Meath in person to witness the rising sun align with the entrance of Newgrange to illuminate historic carvings.

The illumination is set to take place at 9.20am.

“Even after all the years of research and all the monuments around the world that have been found to have alignments, this is the oldest known deliberately orientated structure anywhere in the world,” Director of Newgrange Clare Tuffy said.

As well as it being the shortest day of the year, we will have the longest night of the year later.

“This is caused because the Earth is tilted on its axis, so as it's orbiting around the sun, depending which hemisphere you're in, you're either going to be tilted closer towards or further away from the sun,” Astronomer Anna Gammon-Ross explained.

Watch the livestream – here.

Newgrange Passage Tomb County Meath, Ireland. Image: Steppenwolf / Alamy