However, our planet takes about 365.242199 days to orbit the Sun. Today's Gregorian calendar has 365 days in a common year and 366 days in a leap year. The date of the equinoxes and solstices varies because a year in our calendar does not exactly match the length of the tropical year-the time it takes the Earth to complete an orbit around the Sun. The equinox in September is the start of fall in the Northern Hemisphere and the beginning of spring south of the equator.Įquinox and solstice dates-years 1-2149 Why Does the Date Vary? The March and September equinoxes mark the beginning of the spring and autumn seasons on Earth, according to one definition. In reality, equinox days don’t have exactly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of dark.Įquilux: when day and night are (actually) equalĪstronomical terms & definitions The Equinoxes and the Seasons However, this is literal translation not entirely true. This is the reason it’s called an “equinox,” derived from Latin, meaning “equal night.” In other words, night and day are, in principle, the same length all over the world. On the days of the equinoxes, the Earth’s axis is perpendicular to the Sun’s rays, meaning that all regions on Earth receive about the same number of hours of sunlight. As the Earth travels toward the opposite side of its orbit, which it reaches in December, the Southern Hemisphere gradually receives more sunlight, and the subsolar point travels south.Įarth is tilted as it orbits the Sun, which is why equinoxes and solstices happen. In June, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun, and the subsolar point is north of the equator. The subsolar point moves north and south during the year because the Earth’s axis is tilted at an angle of about 23.4° in relation to the ecliptic, an imaginary plane created by Earth’s path around the Sun. The December solstice marks the southernmost point of its journey. Having reached its northernmost point at the June solstice, it starts moving southward until it crosses the equator on the day of the September equinox.
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