20 March 2009

Vernal Equinox


Yea for today! The days are getting longer and now it is officially spring. Wasn't nearly as warm today as it was earlier in the week, but that's OK. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

An equinox happens twice each year, in the spring and in the fall. On an equinox the tilt of the earth's axis is neither toward, nor away from the sun. The word equinox comes from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night), because around the equinox, the night and day are approximately equally long.

In spring in the Northern Hemisphere, the equinox typically happens on 20 or 21 March. Also, the equinox is not a whole day, it is a specific point in time. It happens when the centre of sun can be observed directly over the earth's equator. Here it happened at 7:44a.m. CDT. It's made me happy all day to think about it.
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1 comment:

Kristen said...

Becky!!!
Made me happy too!
I stood and egg up on end. Took a pic. I need to post it on the board!

Hope you are doing well!
K