September brings us another astronomical event - the equinox - when days and nights will be approximately equal in
length. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, this marks the tipping point where the sun will rise
later and nightfall arrives sooner. As things have grown cooler around
these parts you don’t have to remind me that autumn is in the air. This is the time of year we stack firewood and roll-out the long sleeve t-shirts and long dungarees. Pumpkin seeds are harvested and roasted too.
Equinox (Latin for equal night) the amount of daylight is nearly equal to the hours of darkness.
Even though the equinox
happens at the same moment worldwide the precise time for you
depends-upon your time zone. Translation: this equinox comes early
in the morning on September 22 at 8:31 AM CDT. Meanwhile - south
of the equator - spring is about to begin. If you live on the equator the sun will be positioned directly overhead at high noon.
We live just shy of the 45th parallel (equidistant from the equator and pole) and it has been fascinating to observe the transit of the setting sun as it
has moved from its furthest advance to the north to now set in the
west. The sun only rises due east and due west on two days of the year -
The spring and fall equinoxes.
No comments:
Post a Comment