The Equinox

Direction of Sunrise and Sunset

From The Permaculture Research Institute we read the following:

  “ Why is the equinox important for permaculture?

One of the first questions my PDC instructor posed to us was, “where does the sun rise?" Well everyone knows the answer to that; the sun rises in the east. No brainer. Alas, we were wrong. Unless you live at the equator, the sun does not rise directly in the east. ”

Equal Day and Night

From an article from the Christian Science Monitor we read the following:

  “ It's often said that the autumnal equinox is a day of perfect equilibrium – a 24-hour cycle split neatly into 12 hours of light, and 12 hours of dark. That's not exactly true. In areas distant from the equator, the sun can take longer to rise and set; closer to the equator, the day lasts a little more than 12 hours. The real even split between day and night doesn't occur until later in the fall, according to the US Naval Observatory. ”