Autumnal Equinox

Dear Henry Albert

The Autumnal Equinox is on September 23rd. Isn’t that exciting? Wow! Whoopee! Who cares? A lot of people don’t know what it is. And when they find out, most don’t care anyway. Other stuff is more interesting.

The Autumnal Equinox is the day that there are equal hours of day and night (12 each) all over the Earth. The Sun is directly overhead at the Tropic of Cancer at 12 noon.
The Tropic of Cancer currently lies 23° 26′ 22″ north of the Equator. If the wobbles, it will change. (More on wobbling when you are older.)

If you stand on the Tropic of Cancer at exactly 12 noon, you will not have a shadow. If you stand there before noon or after noon, you will have a shadow.
Don’t worry about it. You don’t need a shadow.

Sun dials need shadows and so do the Ancient Druids. Sun dials help us tell time. The Ancient Druids had Stonehenge to help tell the time and the seasons.

In old times, people didn’t have watches or cell phones or PDAs or radios or all kinds of gizmos that told time. People were always late or early or didn't know.

We needed a way to tell time. History shows that two pre-historic caveman tinkered and invented the hourglass and the clock. (Tinkering has nothing to do with tinkling)

Time is important. Einstein stressed the importance of time as a dimension in his Theory of Relativity. Relativity is important. You have Grandmas and Grandpas and Uncles and Aunts and Cousins and other stuff. Maybe one day you will have a cat or pet chicken.

And on Yom Kippur we don’t eat.

So .... HAPPY AUTUMNAL EQUINOX!

Also ... Our Sun is named Sol. I had an uncle named Sol. This proves Einstein was right about relativity. And also .... The Druids used to dance around naked.