the autumnal equinox

Today is the first official day of fall. Hooray! I celebrated by going to Michael's. Didn't really buy anything especially festive, only a scrapbook to record my adventures in Italy from over a year ago and other small things, but just being in there was enough of a treat. The store is just so celebratory of the seasons, wouldn't you agree?

I did not know that the first day of fall was called the autumnal equinox until this very year. Where have I been? Maybe I'm a dummy. I find this kind of funny because I probably wouldn't have even noticed this year if I had not listened to a new (I think it's new) song by Death Cab for Cutie called "Meet Me On The Equinox" last night, which will be featured in the much-anticipated New Moon, and thought, "What's an equinox?" They mentioned it on the Today Show this morning. There was that same funny word again, obviously having something to do with "equality" and the beginning of fall, so I looked up the term. Here's a portion of the def (from Wikipedia, my new best friend):

An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the Sun being vertically above a point on the Equator. The term equinox can also be used in a broader sense, meaning the date when such a passage happens.

Many people think we will see 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of night over this day and the next, but I did some research and the people who know say that doesn't really happen except for people actually on the equator (my sources could be faulty...I don't really know what I'm talking about) but this slice of information is kind of neat to think about:

On the Northern Hemisphere's autumnal equinox day, a person at the North Pole would see the sun skimming across the horizon, signaling the start of six months of darkness.

On the same day, a person at the South Pole would also see the sun skim the horizon, beginning six months of uninterrupted daylight.

Gives me the creeps. I'm glad I'm not on the North Pole. Anyway, yay for sweet autumn days.