By Fazeena Saleem
DOHA: The hot summer in the country will start to fade as the first day of the northern autumn falls today. It takes place as the Sun crosses the equator and annual autumnal equinox occurs in the evening local time.
Today autumn begins astronomically in the Northern Hemisphere, while spring begins in the Southern Hemisphere. The exact time of the event will be 1449GMT - 5:49pm in Doha.
Also day and night will be nearly equal here as elsewhere since the Sun spends nearly an equal amount of time above and below the horizon. Sun rise is at 5.22am and sunset at 5.32pm in Doha. “The Sun will cross equator at 5.30pm Doha time,” Sheikh Salman Jabor Al Thani, a leading Qatari astronomer told The Peninsula.
He also explained that today the sun rises exactly 90 digress east.
The chilly weather will also gradually start as the first day of autumn 2012 begins astronomically in the northern hemisphere.
“People will not feel anything immediately but as the Sun moves toward the south the weather will get cooler. In December, January and February the mercury dips to its lowest here,” Jabor Al Thani said.
He further explained that by noon longer shadows will be seen pointing toward the north after the autumnal equinox.
There are two equinoxes every year — in September and March — when the sun shines directly on the equator and the length of day and night is nearly equal.
Seasons are opposite on either side of the equator, so the equinox in September is also known as the ‘autumnal (fall) equinox’ in the northern hemisphere.
However, in the southern hemisphere, it’s known as the ‘spring (vernal) equinox.’
On a day of the equinox, the centre of the Sun spends roughly equal amount of time above and below the horizon at every location on the Earth, night and day being roughly of the same length.
The Peninsula
