Question

what is an equinox?

Answer 1

Hint:Equinox happens twice a year in March and in September, and it splits the earth's day almost in half. It is not only the earth that experiences the equinox but every planet in the solar system has an equinox. In the ancient period, people used to celebrate the arrival of spring when the earth's day is split into equal halves i.e, during an equinox.

Complete answer:
The equinox is derived from two Latin words "aequus" meaning "equal" and "nox" meaning "night". This suggests that it is that period when the sun is exactly above the equator and the day and the night are almost equal in length nearly 12 hours each. It happens twice a year, the first one is called the vernal equinox and the second one is called the autumnal equinox. Both the equinox marks the point when the earth's closest part to the sun is the equator rather than places north and south. The "Vernal" is derived from the Latin word "ver" meaning "Spring", so it marks the beginning of spring in the Northern hemisphere. It occurs on 21-March. It occurs when the sun moves north across the equator. The autumnal equinox occurs on 23-September and marks the beginning of autumn in the Northern hemisphere. It happens when the sun crosses the equator traveling south.

Note:The vernal equinox also called march equinox has always been celebrated in the Northern hemisphere as a time of rebirth. Many spring festivals are celebrated around the vernal equinox like Easter and Passover etc. When the autumnal equinox occurs in the Northern hemisphere at that time the southern hemisphere experiences the vernal equinox.