Goodbye to Summer: On September 22, at 2.44 pm Italian time, the autumnal equinox occurs.It marks Astronomical beginning of a new season.
The day of the equinox observes the same duration for the hours of light and darkness The sun rises exactly in the east and sets exactly in the west: “From that moment on – As astrophysicist Gianluca Masi, scientific director of Virtual Telescope, recalls – until the peak of the winter solstice, the Northern Hemisphere will continue to shorten daylight in favor of night.
This year, the equinox coincides with the Moon's sighting, which begins on September 21st and begins a series of encounters with the Pleiades.A cluster of stars in the constellation Taurus and the planets Mars and Jupiter. Exactly 10 pm to 11 pmThe Union of Italian Amateur Astronomers (UAI) underlines, The Moon is located between the Pleiades and Jupiter, which have many stars visible even to the naked eye.Over the next few nights our satellite will first join the gas giant and then the red planet.
Popular culture places the autumnal equinox on September 23, but, due to the mismatch between the calendar and the leap year, it may actually bring that date forward.. “In 2092 and 2096 – Masi says – even September 21st will be holy days”.
Astronomically, the position of the Sun at the September equinox corresponds to the so-called 'first point of Libra': “In ancient times, the Sun actually entered the constellation of Libra on this date – adds the astrophysicist – and nowadays the first point of Libra is located in the constellation of Virgo.” This is because the precursor event of the equinox, the very slow movement of the Earth, changes the orientation of its axis of rotation, which stops a spinning top.
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