Burning the autumn leaves in Norwich, Connecticut, November 1940

Autumn Leaves, 1855-56

Sir John Everett Millais (1829-96)

Autumnal Equinox 2009: Facts on the First Day of Autumn

In the Northern Hemisphere autumn officially begins at 5:19 a.m. ET on Tuesday, September 22, 2009—the autumnal equinox.

But don't be fooled by the notion that on the autumnal equinox the length of day is exactly equal to the length of night. The true days of day-night equality always fall after the autumnal equinox and before the vernal, or spring, equinox, according to Geoff Chester, a public affairs specialist with the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. The difference is a matter of geometry, atmosphere, and language.

Equinox Special

The spring and autumn equinoxes, for starters, are the only two times during the year when the sun rises due east and sets due west.

On the Northern Hemisphere's autumnal equinox day, a person at the North Pole would see the sun skimming across the horizon, signaling the start of six months of darkness.

Equinox Oddity

A rule of the calendar keeps spring almost always arriving on March 20 or 21—but sometimes on the 19th.

In 1582 Pope Gregory XIII established the Gregorian calendar, which most of the world now observes, to account for an equinox inconvenience. If the pope hadn't established the new calendar, every 128 years the spring equinox would have come a full calendar day earlier, eventually putting Easter in chilly midwinter.

Before the pope's intervention, the Romans and much of the European world marked time on the Julian calendar. Instituted by Julius Caesar, the old calendar counted exactly 365.25 days a year, averaged over a four-year cycle. Every four years a leap day helped keep things on track.

Nowadays, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory's Chester, equinoxes migrate through a period that occurs about six hours later from calendar year to calendar year, due to the leap year cycle.

The system resets every leap year, slipping a little bit backward until a non-leap century year nudges the equinoxes forward in time once again.

Autumn Eve

Image from Library of Congress Print Collection

September in the Rain

The leaves of brown came tumbling down

Remember in september in the rain

The sun went out just like a dying amber

That september in the rain

To every word of love I heard you whisper

The raindrops seemed to play our sweet refrain

Though spring is here to me its still september

That september in the rain

To every word of love I heard you whisper

The raindrops seemed to play our sweet refrain

Though spring is here to me it is still september

That september in the rain

That september that brought the pain

That september in the rain

The music was written by Harry Warren, the lyrics by Al Dubin. The song was published in 1937.

The song was introduced by James Melton in the film Melody for Two. It has become a standard, recorded by many artists since.

Recorded versions

* The Beatles (1962)

* Teresa Brewer

* Cilla Black

* Chad & Jeremy

* June Christy (1946)

* Eddie Condon (1944)

* Bing Crosby (1956)

* Doris Day

* Sam Donahue (1948)

* The Duprees

* Slim Gaillard (1946)

* Earl Grant (1966)

* Lionel Hampton

* Al Hibbler (1956)

* Jack Hylton

* Norah Jones

* Frankie Laine (1946) and (1958)

* Peggy Lee

* Guy Lombardo (US #1 1937)

* Julie London (in her album Calendar Girl, 1956)

* Mantovani

* Yehudi Menuhin

* Willie Nelson

* Red Norvo

* Anita O'Day

* The Platters

* Nelson Riddle

* Marty Robbins

* George Shearing

* Frank Sinatra (1960)

* Jeri Southern

* Jo Stafford (1952)

* Muggsy Spanier

* Dakota Staton

* Victor Silvester

* Hank Thompson

* Sarah Vaughan (1957)

* Dinah Washington (1961)

* Joe Williams (1952)

* Lester Young

* Diane Schuur

* Jan Johansson

* The Cocabelles

from "September 1, 1939"

"Defenseless under the night

Our world in stupor lies;

Yet, dotted everywhere,

Ironic points of light

Flash out wherever the just

Exchange their messages:

May I, composed like them

of Eros and of dust,

Beleagured by the same

Negation and despair,

Show an affirming flame"

W. H. Auden (1907-73)