Photo shows Earth equally balanced with day and night on spring equinox

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Photo shows Earth equally balanced with day and night on spring equinox

Frank Carnevale | Monday, March 25, 2019 12:53 p.m.

NOAA

The Earth is captured in equal parts day and night in this satellite image taken on March 20, 2019, at 8 a.m. ET prior to the equinox.

A stunning new photo of the Earth captures the balance of day and night near the spring equinox.

The image shared by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows the world perfectly aligned at the start of spring on last Wednesday. You can see the lights of American cities and clouds covering the Atlantic Ocean and South America.

There are two equinox during the year when the amount of daylight and nighttime is “nearly” equal at all latitudes, this happens in March and September. And the Earth’s axis is tilted neither toward nor away from the sun.

NOAA captured the photo with the GOES-16 satellite on March 20 at 8 a.m. ET prior to the equinox, which happened at 5:58 p.m. that day.

According to AccuWeather the GOES-16 (Geostationary and Polar-Orbiting Weather Satellites) is positioned approximately 22,300 miles away from Earth and is lined up at 75.2 W longitude and the equator.

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