Fall Eqinox

Next Sunday (the 22nd) at 12:44 PM UTC (5:44 AM Pacific time) is the fall (or autumnal) equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. This is when the sun is over the Equator and the daylight all over the globe is right around 12 hours. It also marks the beginning of autumn. The tilt of the Earth is pointing sideways to the sun. 

When I was a kid they would say during the summer, the axis of the Earth points toward the sun, and in the winter, it points away. I thought the axis changed, like a wobbling top. But then I couldn't figure out how the axis always pointed at the North Star. It took me years to understand how that happens as the Earth orbits the sun the axis stays the same but the orientation of the axis to the sun changes as the Earth orbits it. I often took things way too literally when I was a kid.

Also, when I was a kid growing up in Idaho, I couldn't understand why winter didn't start until late December (the winter solstice) when it usually started snow in early November. But we were at about 5,000 feet elevation where we lived (the Snake River Plain). 

And as always, time passes and we fly by another milestone.

At least I'm not writing about cars this week!