Today is the first day of Spring

Today is the first day of Spring. This means that the length of a day and night are exactly the same.

Spring Equinox

This weekend is a special time in astronomy. This is when the sun's direct rays are crossing over the Earth's equator from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere.

Nearly Equal Daylight

During the equinox, nearly equal amounts of daylight and darkness are experienced throughout the world, and astronomically speaking, spring has officially begun.

This year, the vernal equinox takes place on Sunday, March 20 at 12:30 a.m. At this time, the sun is crossing over from the southern hemisphere into the northern hemisphere. During this process, the sun is shining directly over the earth's equator, bathing the earth's northern and southern hemispheres in nearly an equal amount of sunlight.

Instead of a tilt away from or toward the sun, the Earth's axis of rotation is perpendicular to the line connecting the centers of the Earth and the sun during an equinox. During the equinox, both day and night are balanced to nearly 12 hours each all over the world.

Good news for those of us in the northern hemisphere: Daylight continues to grow longer until the summer solstice which occurs on Monday, June 20.