FACT FILE : EQUINOX
✸✸ Twice a year the sun’s centre shines directly
above the Earth’s equator and there is an
‘equinox’.
✸✸ The autumn equinox occurs on or around
September 23rd and the spring equinox is about
March 21st.
✸✸ Daylight time is (almost exactly) the same length ✸✸ In Astrology, the Zodiac sign Libra times in with
as nightime darkness at an equinox.
✸✸ The word comes from the Latin aequus (equal)
and nocte (night).
the autumn equinox. ‘Libra’ is Latin for ‘weighing
scales’; Libra’s star constellation represents this
shape and the even balance of day and night.
Look for it in the night sky!
FACT FILE : SOLSTICE
★★People often get confused, but no, a solstice is
not the same as an equinox!
★★Around June 21st is “the longest day” of the
year (-and the shortest night!) This is the
‘summer solstice’.
★★The day with the fewest daylight hours falls
on or close to December 21st and is the
‘winter solstice’ – the centre of many ancient
Midwinter festivals.
★★At the prehistoric site of Stonehenge in
England, Druids, Pagans and many others
gather to celebrate the solstices. The massive
stones were positioned around 4000 years
ago to precisely line up with the sun. -Wow!
Northern Hemi
sphere
HEMISPHERES
●●
Britain and Europe are in
the ‘northern hemisphere’,
which is a bit like saying ✸
“the top half of the globe”.
●●
Equinox and solstice
names in southern
hemisphere countries
reflect their own change
of seasons. For example,
in Australia the “Summer
Solstice” is in December.
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Northern Hemisphere
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