Hail the vernal equinox

Today signals the advent of spring for the northern hemisphere and fall for the southern hemisphere, with both receiving equal light from our star.  Because our planet is tilted 23.5 degrees from the ecliptic (the orbital track around the sun), which of course creates our seasons, there are only two times during each year that an equinox happens.  As our planet rotates on these two days six months apart, the sun appears to rise from due east and set due west, and the hours of daylight virtually equal the hours of darkness almost everywhere on earth.

For us northern-hemisphere dwellers above the tropics, it’s a time of celebration as each day now begins to grow a little longer with the sun’s track edging northward, flowers and trees miraculously come back to life, migrating birds return to familiar nesting grounds, we open up our homes to benign breezes once again, and our souls welcome yet another pleasant restoration from gray winter.

Phil