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The 2022 spring equinox is approaching in the Northern Hemisphere. You know what this means? You have probably heard the concepts of equinox and solstice mentioned and you know that they are related to the position of the Earth in relation to the Sun and to the changes of the seasons, but do you know all the details about it?
If you want to learn more about the spring equinox and know when it will happen this year, join us in this Green Ecologist article about it. vernal equinox in the northern and southern hemisphere.
What is the vernal equinox and why is it celebrated?
As you already know, the Earth carries out a rotatory motion about herself and a translation movement in orbit around the Sun. Rotation is responsible for the existence of days and nights, since only half a planet receives light from the star at any given time. The translation, on the other hand, is responsible for the stations to exist. Or, more than translation, the fact that the earth's axis of rotation is inclined a little more than 23º, so that the equator is not totally perpendicular to the Sun. Here we explain more about Why the Earth revolves around the Sun .
This causes that, as the Earth orbits the Sun, one hemisphere receives more light and heat than the other depending on the point of the orbit. The hemisphere that receives the highest solar incidence will be in summer or spring, and the other, in winter or autumn.
What does all this have to do with the equinox? It's simple. Throughout a complete orbit to the Sun, that is to say, one year, there are two points in which the equator is perpendicular to this and, therefore, the day lasts practically the same as the night. These days are the equinoxes, and they are the ones that mark the early spring and fall for astronomers.
In fact, the name equinox comes from Latin, which means "Same night": aequinoctium. On this day, anyone on the line of the Earth's equator would see the Sun rise exactly in the East and set exactly in the West.
Why is Spring Day celebrated
Why and how to celebrate Spring Day or vernal equinox in the world? Well, traditionally, the equinoxes have had great importance in many cultures, since they represented the end of winter and the beginning of the agricultural cycle, with the abundance that this supposed. In the calendars of India and Persia, the spring equinox was also the start day of the year, and today many cultures around the world celebrate the equinox in different ways:
- The Holi festival in Bhopal, India.
- Nowruz, Central Asia.
- The Songkran Water Festival, Thailand.
- The Rolling Cheese Festival, Gloucester, England.
- The White House Easter Egg Race, USA.
- The Floriade, Australia.
- El Cimburijada, Bosnia.
- The Spring Equinox Festival in Teotihuacán, Mexico.
When is the spring equinox 2022
We currently know all the astronomical details that define when exactly does the equinox occur. In ancient times, however, it was not so simple despite the advanced knowledge that was had in this matter taking into account the resources at its disposal.
Julius Caesar established that the spring equinox occurred every March 25 throughout the Northern Hemisphere, when he established the Julian calendar in 46 BC. However, the small mismatch caused by the fact that the Julian year is a few minutes shorter than the tropics gradually brought the equinox forward in the calendar over the years, until the introduction of the Gregorian calendar by Pope Gregory XIII He established it between March 19 and 21 of each year.
When is the spring equinox 2022 in the northern hemisphere
Given the nature of the equinoxes and the seasons, the spring and autumn equinoxes are reversed in both hemispheres. Because of this, there are those who prefer to call them March equinox and September equinox, in order to avoid confusion due to the change of hemisphere.
In the northern hemisphere, the 2022 spring equinox is considered to be the March 20 at 10:37 UTC.
When is the spring equinox 2022 in the southern hemisphere
In the southern hemisphere, the vernal equinox will occur on September 22 at 19:21 UTC, coinciding with the autumnal equinox in the northern hemisphere.
As a curiosity related to the solstices, we recommend this other article about Why do the seasons of the year exist.
Difference between solstice and equinox
We just saw that the equinoxes They correspond to the two points in the Earth's solar orbit where the Sun falls perpendicular to the equator and day and night have almost the same duration. The solstices Instead, they are the two points at which the earth's axis is at its maximum inclination with respect to the Sun, and therefore they give rise to the longest day and night of the year.
These are the summer solstice, with the longest day of the year, and the winter solstice, with the shortest day. The summer solstice in 2022 will occur on June 21 at 03:31 UTC in the northern hemisphere and on December 21 at 15:59 UTC in the southern hemisphere. The winter occurs on the same dates in the opposite hemisphere.
To learn more about it, we show you here information about the Winter Solstice in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Summer Solstice in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, and the Autumn Equinox in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere.
If you want to read more articles similar to Spring Equinox 2022: Northern and Southern Hemisphere, we recommend that you enter our category of Curiosities of the Earth and the universe.
