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the moment when the sun appears to cross the celestial equator, heading northward. The equinox occurs on or very close to March 21, the precise time being about 5 hours 49 minutes later in a common year, and about 17 hours 26 minutes earlier in a leap year, than in the previous year. (Refer to the 400-year cycle of leap years in the Gregorian Calendar).
The point where the sun crosses the celestial equator northwards is called the first point of Aries. However, due to the precession of the equinoxes, this point is no longer in the constellation Aries, but rather in Pisces. By the year 2600 it will be in Aquarius (hence the term "the dawning of the Age of Aquarius").
In the Southern HemisphereThe Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth's surface that is south of the equator. It contains four continents ( Africa, Australia, South America and Antarctica) separated by four oceans (South Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean and Antarctic Ocean)., the equinox occurs at the same moment, but at the beginning of autumnWestonbirt Arboretum, Gloucestershire, England. Autumn (also called fall in American English; in England that usage was once standard, but has now become archaic) is one of the four temperate seasons, the transition between summer and winter. In the tempe. There are two conventions for dealing with this: either the name of the equinox can be changed to the autumnal equinoxIn astronomy, the autumnal equinox signals the beginning of autumn in the northern hemisphere: the moment when the sun appears to cross the celestial equator, heading southward; the equinox occurs around September 22 September 24, varying slightly each ye, or (apparently more commonly) the name is unchanged and it is accepted that it is out of sync with the season. The alternative terms "March equinox" or "northward equinox" (or even "vernal equinox" for people prepared to ignore the etymology) avoid any such ambiguity.
At the equinox, the sun rises directly in the east and sets directly in the west. However, because of refractionThis article refers to refraction in waves. For refraction in metals, see refraction (metallurgy . Ripple tank Refraction is the change in direction of a wave due to a change in velocity. It happens when waves travel from a medium with a given refractive it will usually appear all slightly above the horizon at the moment when its "true" middle is rising or setting. And for viewers at the north or south poles it is moving virtually horizontally on or above the horizon, not obviously rising or setting apart from the movement in "declination" (and hence altitude) of a little under half a degree per day - about 365.2/360 times the sine of 23.5 degrees.
For observers in either hemisphere not at the poles, the further one goes in time away from the vernal equinox in the 3 months before that equinox, the more to the south the sun has been rising and setting, and for the 3 months afterwards it rises and sets more and more to the north.
The IranIran ( Persian: ) is a Middle Eastern country located in southwestern Asia that until 1935 was referred to in the West as Persia''. It borders Pakistan (909km of border) and Afghanistan (936km) to the east, Turkmenistan (1000km) to the northeast, the Caspian festival of NorouzNorouz (alternative spellings: Norooz, Noruz, Naw-Ruz, Nowrouz,. from Persian no new + rooz day meaning "new day"] is the traditional Iranian festival of the New Year which starts at the exact moment of the vernal equinox, commencing the start of the spri is celebrated on the vernal equinox, as is the NeopaganNeopaganism (sometimes Neo-Paganism is a heterogeneous group of religions which claim to be a revival of mainly European Paganism. It is called Neopaganism by academics and many adherents to distinguish it from earlier forms of Paganism, from which it dif SabbatWicca In neopaganism, a Sabbat is one of the eight major seasonal festivals which make up the Wheel of the Year. These include the solstices and equinoxes, and four additional festivals sometimes referred to as the "cross-quarter days". The word derives f of Ostara (or Eostar).
Also, in Japan Vernal Equinox Day (春分の日) is an official national holiday and is spent visiting family graves and holding family reunions.