According to the meteorological calendar, the Northern Hemisphere has been in Autumn since the start of September. However, today (September 23rd) marks the autumnal equinox and the beginning of Autumn according to the astronomical calendar, which is based on the Earth’s orbit of the sun.
The equinox is an astronomical event in which the sun passes the celestial equator; an imaginary circle equidistant from the Earths poles. On the day of the equinox, day and night are roughly the same length across Earth, with the night gradually becoming longer each subsequent day.
Britain’s clocks will go back one hour at 2am on the Last Sunday of October when the UK switches from British Summer Time (BST) to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). This will mean lighter mornings and darker evenings.
Autumn brings huge changes for our ecosystem. Deciduous trees lose their leaves, which in turn provides food and shelter for animals such as worms and fungi. Migratory birds such as swallows return to their warmer, native countries, whereas geese arrive in the UK from colder countries.
See the National Geographic’s video below for a visual explanation of the equinox:
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