Every Day Is Special: equinox

Showing posts with label equinox. Show all posts

September 23 - Autumn Begins with the Equinox in Eastern Asia

Posted on September 23, 2021

This post is an updated version of my post published on September 23, 2010:

Equinox means “equal night,” and this is the date when day and night are equal lengths. (Depending on where you live, the day and night aren't quite equal.) In the Northern Hemisphere, fall begins on the September Equinox, and in the Southern Hemisphere, spring begins on that day.

This year the Equinox occurs at 19:21 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) - on September 22! (That translates to 7:21 p.m. UTC.) Coordinated Universal Time is a time standard that can be referred to worldwide. It is based on International Atomic Time and is roughly the same time as Greenwich Mean Time, which is the time kept at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, England.

Notice: today is September 23. And I just said that this year the September Equinox is September 22. What - what - what?

Well, any part of the world that has a time zone far enough ahead of UTC will have its Equinox early in the morning on the 23rd instead of in the afternoon or evening of the 22nd. So we say that the September Equinox occurs a day later in such locations as Eastern Russia, Japan, Korea, etc.

Fall falls...

Again speaking from the perspective of the Northern Hemisphere, the days have been getting shorter, and the nights longer, ever since the first day of summer. The days will continue to get shorter and shorter until mid-December. Today is the mid-point in the process.

The shorter days are the main reason that winter is colder than summer. This seasonal change is caused by the Earth's tilt.

Balance an egg on its end...

...or not...

Even though it has been disproved over and over (and over!), there persists a myth that you can balance an egg on its end only during an equinox, when everything is balanced and equal.

Some people might say that it's impossible to balance an egg - but it's not. It's really hard to do it—it takes a lot of practice—and it takes a lot of patience—AND you have to have the right egg, one that has a yolk centered in its shell—but you most definitely can balance an egg on its end.

However, with the right egg, with all that practice and patience, you can stand an egg on its end any day of the year! The idea that it is only possible on an equinox is pure myth!

Also on this date:

Grito de Lares

National Day in Saudi Arabia

Anniversary of Lewis and Clark's return from the Corps of Discovery

Physicist Fizeau's birthday

Patterson-Greenfield's First Automobile

Anniversary of the predicted end of the world (spoiler alert - it didn't happen!)

Anniversary of the discovery of Neptune

Birthday of activist / educator / journalist / speaker Mary Church Terrell

National Great American Pot Pie Day

National Snack Stick Day

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

March 20 - Vernal Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere

Posted on March 20, 2021

This is an update of my post published on March 20, 2010:

Landscape of the Vernal Equinox

by Paul Nash

It's the first day of spring for most of us!

The word equinox means that the day and night are equal length. From now until the middle of June, for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the days will be getting longer and longer!

Everything is reversed for people who live in the Southern Hemisphere: it's the Autumnal Equinox - or the first day of fall - “down there,” and the days will get shorter and shorter until mid-June.

However, people in the Southern Hemisphere, too, have a day and night that are equal in length on this date.

I'm sure you know why we have seasons like summer and winter, right? (The short answer is because the Earth is tilted on its axis.) Go here if you need a refresher.

Do Spring Things!

Start a mini-garden to welcome spring. Put the tops of carrots, beets, parsnips and turnips in shallow jar lids. Use from one quarter to one half inch of vegetable. If there is any greenery, pull (don't cut!) it off. Add a bit of water, which you will need to change or add to daily. Keep your mini-garden in a warm, sunny place, and watch your vegetable tops sprout!

You can also sprout an avocado seed or a sweet potato. Find all the specifics here and here.

Make fresh spring art using wet-on-wet techniques. Use a paint- brush to spread a thin coat of water onto heavy drawing or watercolor paper. Then load your brush with lots of yellow watercolor paint and dab a few spots onto the wet paper, allowing them to spread. Dab some spots of orange, pink, red, blue, and bright spring green as well.

Be careful that you do not use blue and green close to orange and red, since the colors may blend to make brown. You can control some of spreading and any unwanted blending by dabbing some of the water or paint with a wadded-up, dry paper towel. Let the painted paper dry completely.

If you want, after the colorful paper is dry, you can use a black thin or ultra-thin Sharpie pen to outline flower petals, centers, stems, and leaves, utilizing the free-form shapes created by the watercolor paints.

Here are some more ideas of watercolor projects.

Do some Hink Pinks for spring. Figure out two 1-syllable words that rhyme with spring and match the definitions below:

1. the crown jewels _____________ _____________

2. slight pain from a kite's line _____________ _____________

3. a bird doctor's tool _____________ _____________

4.shorten the chains of playground equipment

_____________ _____________

Frogs in a Pond
by Seitei Watanabe

ANSWERS:

1. king bling

2. string sting

3. wing sling

4. swing fling (or fling swing)

Spring Peepers

Some websites proclaim today to be World Frog Day. However, there doesn't seem to be as much happening on this international day as there is on Save the Frogs Day, which occurs on the last Saturday in April.

You have probably heard that populations of frogs and other amphibians are threatened all over the world. Check out the "Save the Frogs" website for ways to donate to or get involved with efforts to save these amazing (and potentially useful) creatures. Maybe there will even be a Save the Frogs event near you. Start planning now...

(And if you are wondering, who cares? Why frogs? – then read this. And stare into this little critters' eyes!)