The European Space Agency (ESA) on Saturday released a satellite photo of day and night divided into two on the Earth’s surface. The image posted to X, formerly Twitter, shows the sun crossing the celestial equator in the sky, bringing autumn to the Northern Hemisphere. The space agency shared the photo and wrote: “Winter is coming. Day and night were divided in two today as the sun crossed the celestial equator in the sky at 7:50am BST/8:50am CEST and the autumnal equinox in the north hemisphere marked. Hemisphere. This #Meteosat photo was taken this morning at 09:00 BST/10:00 CEST.”
Winter is coming ❄️
Day and night were divided in two today as the Sun crossed the celestial equator in the sky at 07:50 BST/08:50 CEST, marking the autumnal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere.
This #Meteosat the image was taken this morning at 09:00 BST/10:00 CEST (photo: EUMETSAT) pic.twitter.com/t7oUI36ai4
— ESA (@esa) September 23, 2023
Since the post was shared, it has attracted many comments from social media users.
“This is an interesting message!” said one user.
“Unbelievable,” said another.
“The autumnal equinox has begun in the Northern Hemisphere. Here’s a grand view of Earth from Meteosat in space, with Africa, Europe and the Middle East in the foreground,” said another user.
Someone added: ‘Amazing; I had no idea that the countries of the world were drawn to Earth in that way.”
From Space.comAutumn began astronomically in the Northern Hemisphere and spring began in the Southern Hemisphere. ‘The sun is currently migrating south after shining directly on the northern half of our planet for the past six months. “So at the official start time of autumn, the sun would appear directly overhead from a ship in the Laccadive Sea, positioned on the equator, 275 kilometers northeast of Addu City in the Maldives,” the website said.
For most of the year, the Earth’s axis is tilted toward or away from the sun. It follows that the northern and southern parts of the planet receive different amounts of heat and light from the sun. Earth’s axis and orbit are aligned at the equinox, which distributes sunlight evenly to both hemispheres.
Two Latin words meaning equal and night form the word equinox. This is due to the fact that on the equinox day and night are almost the same length. However, depending on where you are on the planet, you may get a few extra minutes.