1. Equinox is an instantaneous phenomenon
Equinox is usually
thought of as a phenomenon lasting an entire day. However, it is a single
moment in time, when the Sun crosses the celestial equator, which is an
imaginary line in the sky above Earth's equator. After Autumn Equinox, there
will be earlier sunsets and later sunrises in the Northern Hemisphere.
2. Day and Night are not
precisely 12 hours each
Aequus, meaning 'equal',
and nox, meaning 'night', are the Latin words from which the word equinox has
been derived. However, day and night are not precisely 12 hours each on the day
of fall or spring equinox.
3. Equinox does not
occur on a fixed day
The Autumn Equinox
usually occurs on September 22 or 23, but occasionally, it can even occur on
September 21 or 24. This happens because the Earth takes 365.25 days or 365
days and 6 hours to orbit the Sun, which means the Equinox occurs 6 hours later
than the time at which it happened the previous year
4. Equinoxes signal the start of Northern Lights
Aurora Borealis refers
to a spectacular view of colorful lights in the night sky. Autumn Equinox is
the prime time for viewing Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights. This is because
geomagnetic storms happen twice as frequently than the annual average. During
the equinox, solar winds or the particles of plasma are better able to reach
Earth's atmosphere, due to the Earth's axial tilt, through our geomagnetic
field, and this interaction results in the strongest geomagnetic storms. The
particles of plasma interact with atoms of oxygen, nitrogen and other elements
in the atmosphere, and release photons of different wavelengths, causing
beautiful colors of aurora. Bet that's more than you ever wanted to know. LOL
5. Harvest Moon in the
Autumnal Equinox
The first full moon occurring after the Autumn Equinox is termed as the Harvest Moon. This is the
time when moonrise occurs earlier in the evening, as a result farmers are able
to work longer.
6. Defining colors of autumn leaves
Chemicals such as
flavonoids, carotenoids and anthocyanins become more prominent in leaves after
the Autumn Equinox, while Chlorophyll decreases, and this results in the
vibrant ambers, reds and yellows of autumn.
7. Autumn Equinox in
Greek mythology
When Persephone, a Greek
Goddess and the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, was abducted by Hades, the God of
the Underworld, to make her his Queen, autumn began, according to Greek
mythology.
Now this I thought was really interesting. On the day of the
Autumnal Equinox and the Spring Equinox, afternoon sunlight bathes the western
side of the main stairway of Mayan Pyramid of El Castillo, in Mexico. This
creates a shadow which imitates the body of a 120 foot long rattlesnake,
creeping downwards.
Pagans celebrate Autumn
Equinox with a harvest festival known as Mabon, which is a time for practicing
Apple Magic.
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8 comments:
Out driving yesterday and the colors here in Michigan are starting to pop. This week is the start of a cold snap so we should be in full blaze soon. My favorite time of year!
Wow, how lucky. I'd love to see the colors! Thanks so much for taking a peek!
Not many colors yet here close to Lake Michigan. It's always later than where Nancy is, farther inland. I would love to see the Northern Lights. Autumn is my fav time of year. Cool nights, windows open. After weeks of too warm weather, this cold snap is great.
All interesting facts! Up here in Southwestern Ontario, I saw hints of the leaves turning in late August, but they are really prominent now, and are starting to fall. And last night we had a first frost. Hopefully that will make the bugs go away!
Great information. No leaf changes in Alabama yet. Won't be usually big color until November.
Some really interesting facts, Tena. Thank you!
Thank you all for taking time out of your busy day to take a peek at my post. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. Have a great weekend!
Great information! And events such as this are so often overlooked in this day and age. But to our ancestors, they meant everything! My personal favorite is the sunrise for the Winter Solstice—especially in Ireland. It's a really big deal here because of Newgrange, a monument older than Stonehenge that captures the winter sunlight. Shh, though. It's a secret!
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