The word autumnal means “of or relating to autumn (fall).” The word equinox comes from the Latin aequinoctium, meaning “the time of equal days and nights,” from equi-, meaning “equal,” and nocti-, meaning “night.”Īn equinox is a moment, not an entire day. The first records of the term autumnal equinox come from around 1530. In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s the reverse.Įxample: Some leaves start changing color around the time of the autumnal equinox, but some stay green for much longer.

In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice occurs in June and the winter solstice occurs in December. There are two solstices during the year: one that occurs around June 20–22 (usually June 20 or 21) and one that occurs around December 20–23 (usually December 21 or 22). In contrast, a solstice is one of the two times of the year when the positioning and tilt of Earth relative to the sun results in the most amount of daylight time or the least amount of daylight time in a single day. In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s the reverse. In the Northern Hemisphere, the autumnal equinox occurs in September and the vernal equinox occurs in March. The autumnal equinox is traditionally considered to mark the start of fall, while the vernal equinox is considered to mark the start of spring. This can also be called the autumnal point. The term equinox can also refer to the position of the sun at this moment, and the term autumnal equinox can refer to the position of the sun at the moment considered the autumnal equinox. The equinoxes occur on these days, but an equinox is not the whole day-it is the moment when the sun is directly above Earth’s equator. The two equinoxes occur around March 20–21 and September 22–23. The autumnal equinox (also called the fall equinox) is one of the two equinoxes-the times of the year when the amount of daylight and nighttime hours are just about of equal length.

Define autumn