First Day of Autumn 2009 

Can you believe, three quarters of the year of 2009 is now behind us?  September is my favorite month as this is the month that brings the last day of Summer and the first day of Fall.  

The September equinox is where the sun rises directly in the east and sets directly in the west. This is also true for both the fall and spring equinoxes. So on two days of the year people will find the exact cardinal directions of East and West by using the sun.

The autumnal equinox for the northern hemisphere is the vernal equinox for the southern hemisphere. Another nifty way to say this is that when fall begins for the northern hemisphere at the same time, spring begins for the southern hemisphere. Keeping this in mind will help you understand why we have seasons. If part of the globe has opposite seasons than the other half, is not because of how close or far away we are from the sun. This is related to the tilt of the Earth on its axis.

As the North Pole begins to tilt away from the sun, cooler weather comes to the northern hemisphere because the sun is no longer giving its direct rays to this part of Earth. In winter when the North Pole is tilted it's farthest away from the sun, we have the least amount of daylight hours and the coldest weather. You can even notice the angle of the sun and how it never gets as high above the horizon.

Here is an interesting fact, while some would believe that we would have even days and nights, however, this is not the case. In the Northern Hemisphere on the fall equinox, daylight hours will still be longer than nighttime by about seven to 10 minutes. A couple days after the equinox, day and night are finally equal. You can check for the exact dates and time visiting the Naval Oceanography Portal.

Kathy Hyatt is a Native South Floridian, give her a call with any questions you may have on Real Estate or visit www.KathyHyatt.com