The UAE and the centre of the Arabian Peninsula, especially in areas located at sea level, will this year witness equinox (equalisation of daytime and nighttime) from March 14-16 during the spring season, and through September 26 to 28 during the autumn season, according to the Emirates Astronomy Society.

For the Mediterranean and European countries, the equinox will be in the period from March 16 to 18 during the spring season and from September 25 to 27 during autumn season.

Ibrahim Al Jarwan, President of the Emirates Astronomy Society explained that this means days and nights will be of equal length, which means that sunrise and sunset will be at nearly the same time every day.

“It is basically an equalisation of daytime and night-time-12 hours of day and 12 hours of the night. This equinox on these two dates occurs annually for areas at sea level,” he said.

The arrival of the September equinox marks the beginning of autumn in the northern hemisphere, where the UAE lies, and the start of spring in the southern hemisphere.

“As for the legal or official day, which is the period from dawn to sunset, be of equal length with the official night, which is the period from sunset to the appearance of the true dawn, it will be December 25-26 in the UAE and the Arabian Peninsula,” said Al Jarwan.

The official pointed out that for the areas between the tropics or South of the Tropic of Cancer “South of latitude 23.5 North” for the Arabian Peninsula, such as the city of Makkah in Saudi Arabia, which is located at latitude 21 North, the official day is always longer than the official night.

“The lowest time between them is during the last week of December, with a difference of not less than 00:10 (10 minutes) in which the length of the legitimate daytime period is more than the length of the legitimate night period and exceeds this difference to reach 2:50 during the last half of June because it is located between the two tropics,” explained Al Jarwan.

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