By Rod Hill on 2014-09-18
Colors are changing and fall is near! Summer ends and autumn begins this coming Monday, September 22, at 7:29 p.m. local time with the Autumnal Equinox. On that day, the north and south pole will be equal distances towards the sun at 93.2 million miles away. At the moment of the Equinox, the sun stands directly over the Earth's equator. As the a result, the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are illuminated equally. The word equinox has a Latin root, meaning equal night.
On the day of the equinox, it's easy to find due east and due west from your own backyard. Just go outside around sunrise 6:57 or sunset 6:20 and notice the location of the sun on the horizon with respect to familiar landmarks.
Happy Autumn!
Wildfire smoke blowing over Portland