BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy Vernal Equinox

You've made it through the winter and watched the food stores diminish. But the days are getting longer and green shoots are appearing. Spring is on the way. The festivals of the vernal equinox emphasize rebirth and renewal. In many cultures the equinox is also the New Year.

Vernal Equinox

Happy Spring Equinox. (And to southern hemisphere readers, greetings on the autumnal equinox.) The astronomical equinox occurs today (March 20) at 4.47 p.m. UTC. Here is a diagram to show you what's happening then.

I'm still on GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) which is the same as UTC. But if you want to convert UTC to your local time - or do any other time zone conversions - I find the world clock converter is very handy.

Thanks Mona, I had a great time messing around with that world clock converter!

Cheers

Here is a short time lapse video showing the El Castillo in Chichen Itza and the "snake" effect at the spring equinox: El Castillo at the equinox

The March equinox for 2015 occurs at 22.45 UTC (10.45 p.m.) on March 20. This is astronomically when the Sun crosses the celestial equator. You can convert that to your local time using the world clock converter. UTC is the same as Greenwich Mean Time (GMC), so for people living a few time zones and beyond to the east of Greenwich, the March equinox occurs on March 21 this year.