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Meaning of solstice and equinox12/19/2023 In Mexico, the Mayan site Chichén Itzá has special equinox ties. English Heritage organizes the events, and if you aren't fond of big crowds, the equinoxes draw fewer people than the solstices typically. In England, the mysterious stone structure of Stonehenge has been a popular gathering place for solstices and equinoxes. Kukulcán Pyramid Mexico Hugo Borges/AFP/Getty Images That's why the sun never sets at all in the Arctic Circle during the time around the summer solstice. And the effect is more dramatic the farther you get from the equator. The sun sets more slowly during solstices when the Earth's tilt is most extreme. The reason? The setting sun hits the horizon at the steepest possible angle to Earth, EarthSky says. Just go outside around sunset or sunrise and notice the location of the sun on the horizon with respect to familiar landmarks."Īnother fun fact: The sun sets faster during the equinoxes than during solstices - and it's true for both hemispheres. The equinoxes are the only two times a year the sun rises due east and sets due west for everyone on the planet.ĮarthSky says the equinox is "a good day for finding east and west from your yard or other favorite site for watching the sky. If you're a sky watcher, the website EarthSky points out the equinoxes - spring or autumn - are a superb time to orient yourself. We got that truly equal day/night split a few days before the official spring equinox. This bending of light rays "causes the sun to appear above the horizon when the actual position of the sun is below the horizon." The day is a bit longer at higher latitudes than at the equator because it takes the sun longer to rise and set the closer you get to the poles. How does that happen when it's supposed to be 12 hours of day and 12 hours night?Īs the US National Weather Service explains, the "nearly" equal hours of day and night are because of the complex way a sunrise is measured and the refraction of sunlight in our atmosphere. It turns out you actually get a little more daylight than darkness on the equinox - and how much so depends where you are on the planet. That's why it gets increasingly warmer as we head toward the summer solstice in June. Going forward, the Northern Hemisphere will be more exposed to the sun than the Southern Hemisphere. And now here we are at the spring equinox! (That's why it stays dark for so long each day during the winter in places such as Scandinavia and Alaska.)īut since the winter solstice three months ago in December, you've probably noticed that our days have been getting longer in the Northern Hemisphere and the nights shorter. Those are the solstices, and they have the most extreme differences between day and night, especially near the poles. The effect is at its maximum in late June and late December. This discrepancy in sunlight is what triggers the seasons. That positions one hemisphere of the planet to get more sunlight than the other for half of the year's orbit around the sun. However, the axis tilts at 23.5 degrees, as NASA explains. It's called the axis, and this rotation is what gives us day and night. The Earth rotates along an imaginary line that runs from North Pole to South Pole. For some, fall is in the airĬherry Blossoms in a Chinese Tea Garden by Shi Yalei/VCG/Getty Images Or click here to look up the exact moment of the spring equinox where you live. You can click here to see a listing of major cities. Seoul (South Korea) and Osaka (Japan): 6:24 a.m.Bangkok (Thailand) and Hanoi (Vietnam): 4:24 a.m.Dubai (United Arab Emirates): 1:24 a.m.Istanbul (Turkey) and Addis Ababa (Ethiopia): 12:24 a.m.Helsinki (Finland) and Alexandria (Egypt): 11:24 p.m.įor time zones east of the above, the equinox actually falls on Tuesday, March 21.Paris (France) and Algiers (Algeria): 10:24 p.m.Dublin (Ireland) and Accra (Ghana): 9:24 p.m.Montreal (Canada) and Charleston (South Carolina): 5:24 p.m.Ĭrossing over the Atlantic, here are some more places:.Minneapolis (Minnesota) and Kingston (Jamaica): 4:24 p.m. Santa Fe (New Mexico) and Guadalajara (Mexico): 3:24 p.m.
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