From Astronomy Pic of the Day:
Today is an equinox, a date when day and night are equal. Tomorrow, and every day until the next equinox, the night will be longer than the day in Earth’s northern hemisphere, and the day will be longer than the night in Earth’s southern hemisphere. An equinox occurs midway between the two solstices, when the days and nights are the least equal. The picture is a composite of hourly images taken of the Sun above Bursa, Turkey on key days from solstice to equinox to solstice. The bottom Sun band was taken during the winter solstice in 2007 December, when the Sun could not rise very high in the sky nor stay above the horizon very long. This lack of Sun caused winter. The top Sun band was taken during the summer solstice in 2008 June, when the Sun rose highest in the sky and stayed above the horizon for more than 12 hours. This abundance of Sun caused summer. The middle band was taken during the Vernal Equinox in 2008 March, but it is the same sun band that Earthlings will see today, the day of the Autumnal Equinox.
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Sap 7, 17-19
God be praised for APOD. Happy Autumn!
Isn’t this a day we get to dance around a pile of stones in the forest somewhere, praying to the four winds? I can’t find anything about when and where…
Oh wait–I thought I was posting at the “National Catholic Reporter” site…
Nevermind…
The seasons are a gift from the Father, who wants us to experience the joy of His Creation and His Great Design. I work with secular people at a college, who never think that there is a God behind this order.
Praise Him all ye light…Praise Him sun and moon.
Location: W094 10, N36 04
At this location, Fayetteville, AR
The days when the duration of night and day will be equal fall in a few days according to the Astronomical Applications Dept of the US Navy. On Sept 25th sunrise is at 0607 CST sunset at 1808 CST on Sept 25th sunrise at 0608 CST and sunset at 1807 CST. This is as close as we get here to “equinox”.
For Barrow, Alaska Location: W156 47, N71 17 The northernmost settlement of the US.
It’s “equinox” is Sept 24th when the sun rises at 0718 and sets at 1918 CST.
For Brownsville, TX The Southernmost settlement in the continental US Location: W097 29, N25 55
has it’s “equinox” on Sept 26/27 with a sunrise at 0620 sunset at 1821 sunrise at 0621 and sunset at 1820.
For the southernmost US city, Naalehu, Hawaii, Location: W155 35, N19 04 it won’t be until the 28th of September when the sunrise is at 0613 and the sun sets at 1813.
I recommend checking out: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/
It comes in handy when trying to figure out when one can begin the Easter Vigil for the Ordinary Form.
lc:
“Ipse enim dedit mihi horum quae sunt scientiam veram ut sciam dispositionem orbis terrarum et virtutis elementorum, initium et consummationem et medietatem temporum, vicissitudinum permutationes et commutationes temporum, et meditationem omnium morum, mutationes anni cursus et stellarum dispositiones.”
Umm.. While I really like this photo, the article is not completely accurate. Nights grow longer between the Summer Solstice and the Winter Solstice. After that, the nights will grow longer until the Summer Solstice, on June 21. The the Autumnal and Vernal equinoxes mark the halfway point between the solstices and it is when the period of day and night are MOST equal.
I hope this doesn’t freak anybody out, but fall always makes me a bit morbid, and here’s a perfect modern memento mori:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHO1JTNPPOU&eurl=http://blog.makezine.com/2.html.
It’s a clock that operates on a clockmaking system called “grasshopper escapement,” which is unfortunately not entirely accurate, but in this case, compensates for the missing seconds by pausing every minute and hour to “devour” them, leading some people to call it a chronophage. It has been installed at Cambridge U, inaugurated by Stephen Hawking, but I’m not sure I’d want to work or live anywhere in its vicinity.
Here in St. Augustine, the clock on our cathedral bears a warning in Latin to man to heed the time because he will be held accountable for its use. Probably all the people involved in the grasshopper clock are athiests. What do they see when the seconds, the minutes, the hours and the seasons change?