The 'fancy' name for this event is "The Fall Autumnal Equinox."
So what is the Fall Autumnal Equinox and why is it important?
Well, for one thing, it is that special day at the end of summer and the beginning of fall when the sun at the equator rises in the due East and sets in the due West.
Thus, both the day and the night are about 12 hours long. The reason why they are not exactly 12 hours each is explained in the article below.
But, more significantly, to those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, the days will now start getting shorter and shorter as each day passes and the nights will get longer and longer and longer ....
Until we come to the Winter Solstice when the shortest day of the year occurs.
But that is then and this is now.
And today is the Fall Autumnal Equinox.
If you are paying attention, you will notice that today there will about 12 hours of day and about 12 hours of night.
Anyway, to read more about the Equinoxes and see a really interesting 2 min 38 second video from National Geographic, which they posted for the 2009 equinox, but same concepts apply every year including 2011, HERE’S THE LINK.
