September Night Skies over Tanzania

By Dr. N. T. Jiwaji

Email: ntjiwaji@yahoo.com

September is a month of balance for the world.  The most differentiating aspect around the world, astronomically speaking, is the length of a day in different parts of the world.  While in the North and South polar regions, length of day can be zero (i.e. Sun does not rise) during  half the year, during the other half, the Sun does not set so there are never ending days.  Even in equatorial regions, lengths of days can be noticeably different during cool and warm months.

However, on Monday 23rd September, we will witness one of the two times during the year that length of day and night is exactly equal.  This is the day of the equinox.  The September equinox is called the southern equinox, to differentiate it from the March equinox, also called the vernal equinox or the northern equinox. To read more CLICK HRE