Spring Equinox

The term equinox comes from the Latin aequus nocte (“equal night”), which refers to the fact that on that day night and day have approximately the same duration throughout the world, given that the parallel inclination of the Sun coincides with the equator. to half the planet.

The equinox occurs when the sun is above the equator, so day and night in both hemispheres have exactly the same length. The equinoxes occur in March (between the 19th and 21st) and September (between the 21st and 24th) in the southern hemisphere. This event marks the beginning of spring, and occurs when the sun’s rays fall perpendicularly on the equator. In this way, during the equinox, the day has the same length as the night. This occurs because, during the equinox, the Earth is in a position where sunlight is distributed evenly across the planet. Likewise, a phenomenon known as

 “tilt override” also occurs. From this moment on, the days begin to become longer and warmer in the hemisphere where spring begins, and vice versa in the hemisphere that welcomes autumn.

There are only two times of the year when the Earth’s axis is tilted neither toward nor away from the Sun, resulting in an “almost” equal amount of daylight and darkness at all latitudes.

The summer and winter solstices result in the longest and shortest day of the year, respectively.