Community Corner

Fall Equinox Sunday Marks End of Summer

So long, summer and hello, autumn. The autumnal equinox marks the halfway point between solstices with a day of nearly equal hours of light and darkness.

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By Lance Howland 

The last few hours of summer 2013 slips away—the autumnal equinox falls Sunday, marking the start of fall.

What is the autumnal equinox? 

Equinoxes fall on the halfway point between solstices and occur, according to the Washington Post, "when the sun crosses the equator and day and night are of roughly equal length, everywhere in the world."The nearly equal 12 hours of light and darkness can be attributed to the Earth's lack of an axial tilt on the day of the equinox. In fact, the word equinox is derived from the Latin words aequus, meaning equal, and nox, meaning night.

In Cartersville, according to sunrisesunset.com, the sun will come up at 7:27 a.m. and set at 7:37 p.m on the autumnal equinox. You'll notice that this is not actually a perfect 12 hours of light and darkness. 

As timeanddate.com reports, the disparity is because of issues such as light refraction and other reasons.

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See you next year, summer. Hello fall, and happy autumnal equinox!

Are you happy that fall is here? Or do you already miss summer? 

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