I got soaked to the skin this morning, but the sky paid me back with a full rainbow over Danby Dale. Autumn showers, it seems, come with small mercies.
I took the photograph at 10.28 precisely. A rainbow always sits opposite the sun, so anyone with a sense of direction can work out which way I was facing.
Anyway today brings the autumnal equinox. Yesterday the sun set north of west. Tonight it will set south of west, and there it will stay until March. The sun has packed for the south, as sensible creatures do.
The great moment itself came at 1.06am BST, so says Royal Observatory Greenwich, while the nation slept1The Royal Observatory Greenwich. What is the autumnal equinox? https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/time/what-when-autumnal-equinox [Accessed 23 Sept 2026]. Nobody felt a thing. The sun crossed the equator and the year turned a corner. An equinox lasts an instant. Blink and you would have missed it, though you probably were in bed.
Some websites give a different date. One says 22 September, which is quite right if you live in North America. Here in the UK it is Wednesday 23 September, and the nights will overtake the days in two or three time on the equilux.
Autumn has definitely begun, astronomically at least. Enjoy the golden leaves. The heating bill is waiting round the corner. Happy equinox.
- 1The Royal Observatory Greenwich. What is the autumnal equinox? https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/time/what-when-autumnal-equinox [Accessed 23 Sept 2026] ↩︎
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