Autumn, fall, change of the seasons, whatever you call it, occurs in the northern hemisphere on September 23 at 8:20 UTC. It’s a time when things start winding down in gardens, the kids are probably already back in school and you’re looking at your heating bill with a bit of trepidation, knowing that winter’s beating a steady path to your door.
But let’s stick with autumn for now.
Autumn occurs when the sun hits a point in the sky called the autumnal equinox, or here:
Credit: H.A. Rey, “The Stars”
It’s the little “V” you see underneath Virgo’s head, as if she fell down and tripped on the ecliptic (the path in the sky where the sun, moon and stars “travel” along the zodiac). The sun hits this spot on or about 21 September each year, but as noted above, this year it falls on the 23 September. But if you look in the newspaper or even on many weather web sites, you’ll notice that the times of sunrise and sunset are anything but equal. It’s close, but not exactly 12 hours of day and dark. A lot of that depends upon your latitude. The further south you go, that date creeps into October.
Here’s a handy chart to show sunrise and sunset times for New York You’ll see day and night aren’t equal until September 26. Why? You’ll find an explanation here.
This National Geographic video explains not only the autumnal equinox, but also nifty cultural practices that go along with it.
(You might want to watch it before Rupert Murdoch gets ahold of it and turns it into an exploitive clip about the sun ripping off the nighttime sky by getting dark earlier and earlier).
Want to hear the definitive theme song of autumn? Here’s a short, catchy tune by the band Screeching Weasel called “First Day of Autumn”:
Most important of all, nighttime sky watches CAN’T MISS the total eclipse of the moon! It takes place on September 27/28, 2015. Click here for details to look out for it in your neck of the woods. In New York, it actually begins at a decent time, starting at 8:11 pm, with the full eclipse occurring at 10:11 and lasting until 10:47. If you haven’t seen a total lunar eclipse, it’s worth watching. It’s a slow process, but you’ll have time to truly enjoy it. Don’t take your eyes off of it between 9:50 and 10:15 – watching the moon turn red is the coolest thing ever. Break out your binoculars!
There’s a whole lot going on in nature this week. Take, for example, the March 20th total eclipse. It’s the first total for a couple of years. The others have been annular, or the kind where the moon doesn’t quite hide the sun and it peeks out like a ring. And in case you didn’t know, eclipses come in pairs, two weeks apart: the sun hides its face, then the moon. It’s just the way nature works. Not everyone gets to see this spectacular event; those in the northern extremes of Europe (and polar regions) will see it just fine, but the rest of Europe will have to settle for a partial eclipse. That’s fine by me, something is better than nothing.
Eclipses are weird. I experienced a total eclipse when I was about 7 or 8 years old. It was covered live on TV, when people still held wonderment and what nature could do. I clearly remember it got dark, a fairly good representation of the stars came out, birds went silent and all became still. Mom admonished me for looking up at the sky, yet both of us snuck a peek and I remember getting a chill. It was so, so strange to see this blackness where the sun ought to be. Lots of our neighbors came outside and pointed and laughed nervously. We all knew better. We knew that the sun’d pop back out again and the warmth would return, birds would wake up, a bit confused at the short night, perhaps, but ready to launch into song once more. And sure enough, it did. Everyone retreated to the inside of their houses, catching the few last bits of the broadcast describing the marvel we all experienced.
So what if the sun got stuck, though, behind the moon? Suppose, just for an hour or two, the sun had had enough of working to warm the planet. The moon, normally a celestial object waiting to dominate the evening sky, chose not to budge, either. Let’s say they went to war. A line was drawn in the sky, and neither of them were giving way until the other relented. Imagine what people might say then? Oh, they’d be all right with it for about the first five or ten minutes, but after that? A nip in the air becomes a chill, then cold, then freeze. Our balance turns wobbly, then a sickly feeling emerges from our insides. Hair rises off of our heads as breezes end. Building creak, water flows everywhere and electricity shorts out. Planes can’t fly. Our world ceases, but still exists. The National Guard is called out, but is helpless against the force of nature.
Take that, Nature says, and keep on ruining the planet. I’ll take care of matters for myself. When all of you have had your fill of ignorance, I’ll imbue you with light. Until then, may the best people evolve, while I clean house.
Ah, if only…
In the meantime, we’re still here, facing the Ides of March, Pi Day, and the inevitable East Coast first day of spring snowstorm from the relentless winter we’ve been experiencing. Can’t wait to shovel that 3″ – 6″ in the driveway.
For those of you who weren’t awake, aware or available, there was a full eclipse of the moon last night. Now, I’m also one of those who, for various reasons, wasn’t able to cast my eyes skyward and catch the moon at its best. Sometimes the moon just doesn’t seem to take into consideration that many of us are located on the wrong side of the globe (or clock) to be able to glimpse at the glowing red orb up in the nighttime sky.
If ever anyone wanted to be an astronomer and didn’t have the time, patience or ability to go to school for astrophysics, yet wanted to partake of the universe in an engaging and useful way, then Slooh is for you. It’s a membership organization and it isn’t cheap, but anyone will have access to high-powered telescopes in the Canary Island and Chile, plus get in on a myriad of missions. The universe is literally at your desktop.
As a participant, one also joins a community of like-minded individuals who cast their eyes skyward share what they observe. Also, one gets in on all kinds of neat stuff that NASA offers, too. In fact, Slooh engages NASA and a community of citizen astronomers to help with its near Earth asteroid project. So if you see something, you can say something!
I’ve included the below link for those how want to experience the eclipse and/or get a taste of what Slooh can do for you. Enjoy!
Moon, Stars and Beyond 