For a full workday, 17 out of 24 eggs stood on end. One spring, a few minutes before the vernal equinox, several Almanac editors tried this trick. You should be able to balance an egg on its end on the equiox, but it’s possible to balance an egg on other days, too!įolklore or not, this egg trick sounded like fun to us. “The ancient Chinese celebrated the first day of spring about six weeks earlier than the equinox”-not just on the equinox itself.Īs with most folklore, it’s only partly true. “The origins of this myth are attributed to stories that the ancient Chinese would create displays of eggs standing on end during the first day of spring,” according to John Millis, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Anderson University in South Carolina. Is this true?Ī: This egg folklore became popular in 1945 following a LIFE article about the spring practice. Q: According to folklore, you can stand a raw egg on its end on the equinox. →Read about more fun facts in the Almanac Astronomer’s post, “ Vernal Equinox Oddities.” If the Sun were to shrink to a starlike point and we lived in a world without air, the spring and fall equinoxes would truly have equal nights. Q: Are Day and Night Equal on the Equinox?Ī: Quite close! In reality, day and night are not exactly equal on the equinox for two reasons: First, daytime begins the moment any part of the Sun appears over the horizon and is not finished until the last part of the Sun disappears below the horizon. Using the dates of the astronomical equinoxes and solstices for the seasons would present a statistical problem, as these dates can vary slightly each year. The meteorological seasons are based on annual temperature cycles rather than on the position of Earth in relation to the Sun, and they more closely follow the Gregorian calendar. Weather scientists divide the year into quarters to make it easier to compare seasonal and monthly statistics from one year to the next. Meteorologically speaking, the official first day of spring is March 1 (and the last is May 31). during the entire 21st century! We won’t see a March 21 equinox again until 2101. Interestingly, due to time zone differences, there isn’t a March 21 equinox in mainland U.S.
The equinox happens at the same moment worldwide, although our clock times reflect a different time zone. And, as mentioned above, this date only signals spring’s beginning in the Northern Hemisphere it announces fall’s arrival in the Southern Hemisphere. We’ll explain …Īstronomically speaking, the first day of spring is marked by the spring equinox, which falls on March 19, 20, or 21 every year. The answer depends on your definition of “spring.” Both dates are accurate they’re just from different perspectives. Spring Equinox FAQs Q: Does Spring Begin on March 1 or on the Equinox?Ī: Well, both. The word equinox comes from the Latin words for “equal night”- aequus (equal) and nox (night). On the equinox, the length of day and night is nearly equal in all parts of the world. Read more about the reason for the seasons. Here’s an interesting fact: Equinoxes are the only two times each year that the Sun rises due east and sets due west for all of us on Earth! While the Sun passes overhead, the tilt of the Earth is zero relative to the Sun, which means that Earth’s axis neither points toward nor away from the Sun. (Note, however, that the Earth never orbits upright, but is always tilted on its axis by about 23.5 degrees.) →See your personalized Sun rise and set calculator. The amount of daylight each day will continue to increase until the summer solstice in June, during which the longest period of daylight occurs. On the March equinox, the Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere receive roughly equal amounts of sunlight neither hemisphere is tilted more toward or away from the Sun than the other.Īlthough in most locations (the North Pole and Equator being exceptions) the amount of daylight had been increasing each day after the winter solstice, after the spring equinox, many places will experience more daylight than darkness in each 24-hour day. Imagine standing on the equator the Sun would pass directly overhead on its way north. It’s called the “celestial” equator because it’s an imaginary line in the sky above the Earth’s equator. In the Northern Hemisphere, the spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere (also called the March equinox or vernal equinox across the globe) occurs when the Sun crosses the celestial equator going south to north. Winter Solstice 2023: The First Day of Winter
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