Brethren,
This year marks a very interesting time for us all due to the many events that have throngs of people listening to doomsday stories. Undoubtedly, these legends and stories have been partially based on astronomical events which occur this year, and I can tell you that this year’s celestial show is not going to disappoint.
2012 is a leap year, but not the typical leap year. Due to our leap year day this year, February 29th, the spring equinox will occur earlier than any other spring equinox since 1896, 118 years ago! The spring equinox, called the Vernal Equinox, is the time at which the sun’s azimuth angle above the equator is exactly in the middle of the lowest azimuth of winter solstice and the highest azimuth of the summer solstice.
This also causes the length of the day to equal the length of the night exactly. Specifically, this also means that it takes the sun the same amount of time to travel from East to West, as it takes for the sun to travel from West to East.
The exact day and time of the spring equinox in 2012 is going to be March 19th, at 23:45. Typically the equinox happens on the 20th or 21st of March. The ancients marked this as a special day and set up temples to celebrate this time of year. Our interest in astronomy is for many of the same reasons as the ancients and the wonder of the celestial hemisphere never ceases to delight us and give us reason to learn.
Fraternally,
Russell W. Henderson
Worshipful Master
