Seven facts about the Spring equinox
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Summer, autumn, winter and spring generally start on the same day, but the exact dates can change by a day or two depending on whether it’s a leap year or not. Winter solstice was on December 21 and the days are gradually getting longer and longer until we reach the spring equinox. Express.co.uk reveals the exact date that Spring starts this year, and it’s not far off.
Spring starts on the day of the March equinox, also known as the vernal equinox or spring equinox.
March equinox is the moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator, which is an imaginary line in the sky above the Earth’s equator.
The word equinox is derived from the Latin for ‘equal night’, which makes sense because the night and day are roughly the same length all over the world on an equinox day.
However, the literal translation is not entirely true and equinox days don’t actually have exactly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of dark.
The equinox in March is the start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and the beginning of autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.
September’s equinox marks the beginning of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and spring in the Southern Hemisphere.
March equinox itself is used to measure the time it takes for the Earth to complete a full orbit around the sun.
This varies by around 30 minutes every year but is normally around 365 days, five hours, 48 minutes and 45 seconds.
The timing of March equinoxes and solstices drift apart from the Gregorian calendar (what we used to measure the 365 days in the year.
For that reason, we add a leap year (an extra day) into the calendar every four years to shift the equinox and solstice dates back to the earlier date again.
People born on February 29 are known as ‘leaplings’ and it’s considered lucky to be born on this date.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and American rapper Ja Rule were both born on this fortunate date.
When does Spring start?
Spring equinox happens every year on March 19, 20 or 21.
The last leap year was in 2020 and the equinox was at 3.49am on March 20.
In 2021, the equinox was also on March 20 at 9.37am
This year, the equinox is on March 20 again at 3.32pm.
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