Fall equinox arrives on Saturday, what does it mean & how is it different from solstice?
economictimes.indiatimes.comfall equinox arrived on Saturday in the Northern Hemisphere and with this, the fall season began. But, what does it mean?
What is an equinox?
The word 'equinox' comes from two Latin words meaning equal and night. This provides about 12 hours of the day, followed by 12 hours of the night. How does it happen?
What happens on the equinox?
The Earth rotates around the Sun on its axis, which is tilted towards the Sun or away from it. Consequently, the Sun's light falls unequally on the northern and southern hemispheres of the planet. The Earth's axis and its orbit around the Sun are in a straight line during the equinox and as a result, both hemispheres get an equal amount of sunlight. So, on an equinox, day and night have almost the same amount of time, with a small variation depending upon the place on the Earth.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the fall or autumnal equinox can arrive between September 21 and 24, while the spring or vernal equinox can land between March 19 and 21.
The autumnal and vernal equinoxes are the halfway point between the summer solstice and the winter solstice. What is a solstice?
What is a solstice?
As the Earth rotates around the Sun at an axis, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the sun, it is called the summer solstice. The summer solstice begins the first day of summer in the North and the first day of winter in the South.
When the Southern Hemisphere is tilted toward the sun, it is called the winter solstice. With this begins the first day of winter in the North and the first day of summer in the South. It happens 180 days after the summer solstice.
So, the solstices are the days when the Earth has its strongest tilt toward or away from the sun and they kick off summer and winter. On
