"Why is Spring Called Spring?  and; What Does Spring Have To Do with the Yellow Line in the Middle of the Road?"

Scheduled air date: 2002 Mar 11-17

The Sun crosses the Celestial Equator at the Vernal (Spring) and Autumnal (Fall) Equinoxes.
The Sun is ascending ("springing") in March, and descending ("falling") in September.

The Sun rises exactly due East the morning of March 20th...

...and sets exactly due West that evening.

If you wish to view illustrations for other episodes, please see our Star Gazer Illustrated directory.

Illustrations on this page were created using TheSky Astronomy Software, an advanced desktop planetarium program designed for Windows. Copyright © 1999-2006 by Software Bisque, Inc.