First day of spring 2008
Thursday, March 20th, 2008
Yeah…This is it! Today is first day of spring 2008!
By the way, do you know how we decide when first day of spring is March 20 or March 21 ? You have probably noticed that it
changes from year to year.
Well, first day of spring occurs at the vernal equinox. You might ask what is the vernal equinox?
Vernal equinox is when the sun’s most direct rays shine on the equator, you might look at this picture to understand the
concept better:
An equinox in astronomy is that moment in time (not a whole day) when the centre of the Sun can be observed to be directly
above the Earth’s equator, occurring around March 20 (vernal equinox) and September 23 (autumnal equinox) each year.
Sometimes vernal equinox is called spring equinox or also march equinox.
Sometimes autumnal equinox is called autumn equinox or also september equinox.
Here is a table where you can see when spring and autumn will occur this year and the next coming years:
