Get out!
The Sky This Week, 2014 March 18 – 25 — Naval Oceanography Portal
The Vernal Equinox will occur on the 20th at 12:57 pm EDT despite any appearances to the contrary. At that instant the center of the Sun’s disc crosses the celestial equator above a spot located over the southern reaches of Colombia in South America. If the sun were a pinpoint of light and the Earth was a perfect sphere with no atmosphere all parts of the planet would experience exactly 12 hours of daylight and night; but the Sun subtends a disc of about 30 arcminutes’ diameter, the Earth is kind of lumpy, and we have an atmosphere. All of these factors combine to produce days and nights of “equal night” that fall a few days before the equinox, depending on location. Here in Washington our “equal night” fell on St. Patrick’s Day, so despite the snow storm daylight will exceed night from now until a few days after the autumnal equinox. We know that warmer weather will soon follow!
The Sky This Week, 2014 March 18 – 25 — Naval Oceanography Portal