The autumn equinox, when the sun will be on the heavenly equator, will take place this year, September 22, at 9:19 pm, according to the website of the Astronomical Observatory “Admiral Vasile Urseanu” and HotNews.ro. In the northern hemisphere the duration of the day decreases, and in the southern one it increases.
The point of the autumn equinox, also called “autumnal point”, is on the heavenly sphere at the intersection of the ecliptic (which represents the projection on the heavenly sphere of the Earth's orbit) with the heavenly equator, which the Sun crosses at this time, passing from the northern hemisphere of the heavenly sphere.
Being at this time next to the heavenly equator, the sun will rise and set even in the East and West cardinal points, the duration of the days being equal, regardless of latitude, with that of the nights.
The only exceptions are encountered in the polar regions, in the area of the North Pole starting the long polar night, and in that of the South Pole, the Sun is above the horizon, for 6 months, until the moment of the spring equinox.
In the southern hemisphere of the Earth, September 22 marks the beginning of spring.
At the latitudes of our country, these days the sun will culminate at noon at an average height of 45 °, which represents half the angular distance between the zenith and the horizon.
Starting from this date, the duration of the days will continue to decrease, and that of the nights will increase, until December 21, when the time of the winter solstice will take place.
When Romania passes to winter time
Romania goes to the official “winter” time, on the night of October 25-26 (Saturday to Sunday), when 4.00 hours it becomes 3.00, which will make the day of October 26 this year.
On the night of October 25 to 26, Romania returns from summer time, which applies from the last Sunday of March, at Eastern Europe or Romanian legal time. Thus, starting from that Sunday, Romania will have two hours advance compared to the universal coordinated time (UTC).
Romania is located in the time zone 2, and the Romanian legal time applies from the last Sunday of October until the last Sunday of March, when Romania goes to summer time, and the difference from the UTC is three hours.
In March 2019, the European Parliament decided to renounce the change of time, a measure that was to enter into force from 2021, but the decision must be confirmed by the national parliaments.
The European countries have introduced the provisions on the summer schedule in the last century, to save energy.
Since 1980, the European Union has gradually adopted legislative acts that end the divergent national schemes in terms of time changes. However, in 2018, the purpose of changing the time has become much less relevant, with studies that suggest that energy savings are minor, and citizens are increasingly complaining about negative effects.
In Romania, the summer time was first introduced in 1932, between May 22 and October 2. The first to introduce the summer time were the Germans, starting in 1916 (April 30 and October 1). The British followed, who also introduced summer time in 1916 (May 21 and October 16). Other countries that introduced the summer time were: Belgium, Denemarca, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Holland, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Turkey and Tasmania. On March 19, 1918, it was also introduced in the United States, but was used only until 1919.
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