Day and night are mostly equal on the equinox. There's a bit more daylight because the sun is a disk, not a point, and Earth’s atmosphere refracts sunlight.
Equinox shadows are unique. On this day - and this day only - the tip of an upright stick's shadow follows a straight path, west to east, all day long.
The Beehive cluster is an open star cluster that lies near the center of the constellation Cancer the Crab. It goes by many names, including Praesepe and M44.
Cancer the Crab is one of the 12 constellations of the zodiac. Learn how to find it in your sky, plus learn about its star cluster, mythology and more.
Bruce McClure served as lead writer for EarthSky's popular Tonight pages from 2004 to 2021, when he opted for a much-deserved retirement. He's a sundial aficionado, whose love for the heavens has taken him to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia and sailing in the North Atlantic, where he earned his celestial navigation certificate through the School of Ocean Sailing and Navigation. He also wrote and hosted public astronomy programs and planetarium programs in and around his home in upstate New York.