Equinox

astronomical event where the Sun is directly above the Earth's equator
UTC Date and Time of solstices and equinoxes
year Equinox
Mar[1]
Solstice
June[2]
Equinox
Sept[3]
Solstice
Dec[4]
day time day time day time day time
2010 20 17:32:13 21 11:28:25 23 03:09:02 21 23:38:28
2011 20 23:21:44 21 17:16:30 23 09:04:38 22 05:30:03
2012 20 05:14:25 20 23:09:49 22 14:49:59 21 11:12:37
2013 20 11:02:55 21 05:04:57 22 20:44:08 21 17:11:00
2014 20 16:57:05 21 10:51:14 23 02:29:05 21 23:03:01
2015 20 22:45:09 21 16:38:55 23 08:20:33 22 04:48:57
2016 20 04:30:11 20 22:34:11 22 14:21:07 21 10:44:10
2017 20 10:28:38 21 04:24:09 22 20:02:48 21 16:28:57
2018 20 16:15:27 21 10:07:18 23 01:54:05 21 22:23:44
2019 20 21:58:25 21 15:54:14 23 07:50:10 22 04:19:25
2020 20 03:50:36 20 21:44:40 22 13:31:38 21 10:02:19
2021 20 09:37:27 21 03:32:08 22 19:21:03 21 15:59:16
2022 20 15:33:23 21 09:13:49 23 01:03:40 21 21:48:10
2023 20 21:24:24 21 14:57:47 23 06:49:56 22 03:27:19
style="background-color:gold"2024 20 03:06:21 20 20:50:56 22 12:43:36 21 09:20:30
2025 20 09:01:25 21 02:42:11 22 18:19:16 21 15:03:01
2026 20 14:45:53 21 08:24:26 23 00:05:08 21 20:50:09
2027 20 20:24:36 21 14:10:45 23 06:01:38 22 02:42:04
2028 20 02:17:02 20 20:01:54 22 11:45:12 21 08:19:33
2029 20 08:01:52 21 01:48:11 22 17:38:23 21 14:13:59
2030 20 13:51:58 21 07:31:11 22 23:26:46 21 20:09:30
2031 20 19:40:51 21 13:17:00 23 05:15:10 22 01:55:25
2032 20 01:21:45 20 19:08:38 22 11:10:44 21 07:55:48
2033 20 07:22:35 21 01:00:59 22 16:51:31 21 13:45:51
2034 20 13:17:20 21 06:44:02 22 22:39:25 21 19:33:50
2035 20 19:02:34 21 12:32:58 23 04:38:46 22 01:30:42
2036 20 01:02:40 20 18:32:03 22 10:23:09 21 07:12:42
2037 20 06:50:05 21 00:22:16 22 16:12:54 21 13:07:33
2038 20 12:40:27 21 06:09:12 22 22:02:05 21 19:02:08
2039 20 18:31:50 21 11:57:14 23 03:49:25 22 00:40:23
2040 20 00:11:29 20 17:46:11 22 09:44:43 21 06:32:38
2041 20 06:06:36 20 23:35:39 22 15:26:21 21 12:18:07
2042 20 11:53:06 21 05:15:38 22 21:11:20 21 18:03:51
2043 20 17:27:34 21 10:58:09 23 03:06:43 22 00:01:01
2044 19 23:20:20 20 16:50:55 22 08:47:39 21 05:43:22
2045 20 05:07:24 20 22:33:41 22 14:32:42 21 11:34:54
2046 20 10:57:38 21 04:14:26 22 20:21:31 21 17:28:16
2047 20 16:52:26 21 10:03:16 23 02:07:52 21 23:07:01
2048 19 22:33:37 20 15:53:43 22 08:00:26 21 05:02:03
2049 20 04:28:24 20 21:47:06 22 13:42:24 21 10:51:57
2050 20 10:19:22 21 03:32:48 22 19:28:18 21 16:38:29

An equinox is when the sun passes directly over the equator. There are two equinoxes each year. Equinox can also mean either of the two days when this happens. On these days, the nights are equal in length at latitudes L° North and L° South. The word equinox comes from two Latin words meaning "equal" and "night".

How the Sun lights the Earth on the day of equinox

Around the day of the equinox, the length of the day is a little over twelve hours and the length of the night is a little under twelve hours. They are not exactly equal because the sun is not a point in the sky and because the sunlight bends as it comes to earth. The exact day and time when this happens depend on how far away from the equator it is being measured. They occur on or around March 21 and September 21. Solstices fall around June 21st and December 21st at odd intervals.

The equinoxes are the beginning of spring, and autumn (or fall in the US).

The time of daylight is quite easy to measure. This was done in many cultures where festivals were celebrated at the equinoxes.

change

References

change

Listen to this article · (info)
 
Spoken Wikipedia
This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2006-10-12, and does not play the most recent changes to the article. (Audio help)