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Systematically observing the sunrise, people discovered that it occurs between two extreme locations at the horizon and eventually noted the midpoint between the two. Later it was realized that this happens on a day when the duration of the day and the night are practically equal and the word "equinox" comes from Latin aequus, meaning "equal", and nox, meaning "night".
The solstices, together with the equinoxes, are connected with the seasons. In some languages they are considered to start or separate the seasons; in others they are considered to be centre points (in England , in the Northern Hemisphere, for example, the period around the northern solstice is known as midsummer).
Equinoxes, when the sun lands equally on both hemispheres, mark the start of spring and autumn. Solstices, when the Earth sees its strongest tilt toward or away from the sun, kick off summer and ...
The winter solstice occurs during the hemisphere's winter. In the Northern Hemisphere, this is the December solstice (December 21 or 22) and in the Southern Hemisphere, this is the June solstice (June 20 or 21). Although the winter solstice itself lasts only a moment, the term also refers to the day on which it occurs.
The fall equinox, also known as the autumnal equinox, is when astronomical fall arrives. This year, it will occur at 8:44 a.m. EDT on Sept. 22, according to the Naval Observatory.
When thinking about seasons, it is important to realize that there are solstices and equinoxes. An equinox is a day when daylight and night-time become equal, whereas a solstice is a day that is ...
In its apparent motion on the day of an equinox, the Sun's disk crosses the Earth's horizon directly to the east at sunrise; and again, some 12 hours later, directly to the west at sunset. The March equinox, like all equinoxes, is characterized by having an almost exactly equal amount of daylight and night across most latitudes on Earth. [14]
The days are short and the nights are long. That can only mean one thing: The winter solstice is coming. The first day of winter for the northern hemisphere of Earth will begin on Dec. 21 at ...