As Earth orbits around the Sun, the angle of sunlight that the Northern and Southern Hemispheres receive is different. Seasons are caused by Earth’s tilted axis which always points in the same direction. The opposite is true in the Southern Hemisphere where the days begin to last longer.
Following the autumnal equinox, the Sun gradually continues to rise later and set earlier in the Northern Hemisphere – making the days shorter and the nightfall longer. (Image not to scale) Credits: NASA/GSFC/Genna Dubersteinĭuring an equinox the Sun shines directly over the equator resulting in nearly equal amounts of day and night throughout the world – except for the North and South Pole where the Sun approximately straddles the horizon for the entire day, according to Alphonse Sterling, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. During the equinoxes, both hemispheres receive nearly equal amounts of daylight. An illustration of the March (spring) and September (fall or autumn) equinoxes. This year’s autumnal equinox (for the Northern Hemisphere) or spring equinox (for the Southern Hemisphere) occurs on Sept. Complemented by cooler temperatures and falling leaves, the September equinox marks the beginning of the fall season for the Northern Hemisphere.
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