Autumn Equinox: What is it and why does it happen?
Sabrina Barr
·2-min read
When lockdown was established in the UK in March, the weather was still somewhat chilly, the season of spring having only just officially begun.
Since then, the nation has experienced the full might of summer, with sweltering heatwaves being recorded across the nation.
Almost six months to the day that lockdown was implemented, the autumn equinox has arrived, an occasion that has been marked today with an autumnal Google Doodle.
What is the autumn equinox and why does it happen?
The autumn equinox always takes place in September, either falling on the 22nd or 23rd day of the month.
An equinox occurs twice in the year when the Sun "sits right above Earth’s Equator", National Geographic states.
“As it orbits the Sun, the Sun illuminates the northern or southern hemisphere more depending on where the Earth is along its orbit,” the museum states.
“However, at two points in the year the Sun will illuminate the northern and southern hemispheres equally. These are known as the equinoxes.”
This also means that in the northern hemisphere when autumn officially begins, at the same time spring is commencing in the southern hemisphere.
UK news in pictures
Encyclopædia Britannica adds that the autumn equinox in the northern hemisphere marks just one of two times of the year when “the Sun is exactly above the Equator and day and night are of equal length”.
The autumn season lasts until winter, which begins this year on 21 December according to the astronomical season, the Met Office states.
When is the spring equinox?
The spring equinox in the northern hemisphere is the second of the two times of the year when day and night are of equal length.
The 2021 spring equinox, marking the official start of spring, will take place on Saturday 20 March.
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