Categories: Earth Observation

Happy Equinox!

We’re now in Autumn (in the Northern Hemisphere), the time when the length of day and night are roughly the same. And from here on out, the nights will be getting longer and the days shorter. It’s often difficult to explain to people how the Earth’s tilt defines how much sunlight we get every day, and how it causes the changing seasons. Here’s the easy thing to do. Show this amazing video to anyone, and they’ll totally get it. It’s a full year’s snapshots of Earth taken by NASA’s Meteosat satellite.

The Bad Astronomer, Phil Plait, has a great explainer on the Equinox, and details what you’re seeing in this video. Check it out.

Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain is the publisher of Universe Today. He's also the co-host of Astronomy Cast with Dr. Pamela Gay. Here's a link to my Mastodon account.

Recent Posts

Psyche is Still Sending Data Home at Broadband Speeds

When I heard about this I felt an amused twinge of envy. Over the last…

13 hours ago

Uh oh. Hubble's Having Gyro Problems Again

The Hubble Space Telescope has gone through its share of gyroscopes in its 34-year history…

19 hours ago

Astronomers Will Get Gravitational Wave Alerts Within 30 Seconds

Any event in the cosmos generates gravitational waves, the bigger the event, the more disturbance.…

3 days ago

Next Generation Ion Engines Will Be Extremely Powerful

During the Space Race, scientists in both the United States and the Soviet Union investigated…

3 days ago

Neutron Stars Could be Capturing Primordial Black Holes

The Milky Way has a missing pulsar problem in its core. Astronomers have tried to…

3 days ago

Japan’s Lunar Lander Survives its Third Lunar Night

Space travel and exploration was never going to be easy. Failures are sadly all too…

3 days ago