Autumn Equinox 2025 🍂 September 22nd

Rosie_Scope

Autumn Equinox 2025

Today, 22 September at 18.20 GMT, the autumn equinox marks the official end of summer.

There are many different ways of defining when the seasons are changing. For example, some people prefer to go by the changes in nature like the weather, birds flying south, or leaves falling. Changes in the climate can mean that our seasons aren't as easily predicted any more. But the equinox has a more Astronomical origin.

What is the equinox?

The Earth is tilted on its axis. This means that the Sun illuminates the northern or southern hemisphere more depending on where the Earth is along its orbit.

However, at two points in the year the Sun will illuminate the northern and southern hemispheres equally. These are known as the equinoxes.

At this point in the year, the day is equally split between daytime (light) and night time (darkness). In fact, the word 'equinox' comes from the Latin word 'aequinoctium' meaning 'equal night'.

We'll also be seeing the Harvest Moon. This is the full moon closest to the equinox. It's said to be named the Harvest Moon as the light from the moon allowed farmers to harvest their crops late into the night. This beautiful picture on the left was taken by Hannah Rochford. It shows people visiting Glastonbury Tor during the Harvest Moon in 2021. She was highly commended for her photo at the Astronomer Photographer of the Year competition in 2022. Incredible how big the moon looks from that perspective!

The next event in the astronomical calendar will be the winter solstice on 21 December, where the days will be at their shortest. Not sure I'm ready for that yet, so I'll be making the most of all the colours of Autumn until then!

Here are two websites about equinoxes and solstices if you'd like to read more:

https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/learn-about/weather/seasons/equinox-and-solstice

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/time/what-when-autumnal-equinox

Who else is an autumn fan like me? 🍂

Holly_Scope

Thanks for sharing this! Very interesting read @Rosie_Scope 😊

durhamjaide2001

so it's officially autumn

Rachel_Scope

I didn't know it was officially autumn. Time to get my autumn wreath out! Can't wait for the leaves to start falling