Ricky George, age 12, of Indianapolis, Indiana, for his question;

What is the equinox?

The word equinox means equal night.' lit the time of the equinox, day and night are of equal length all over the world. A s we know, sammer days are longer than the nights and winter days are shorter than the nights. So an equinox does not happen very often.

Actually it happens twice each year, once in the Spring and once in the fall. The spring equinox happens on March 21. North of the equator, the days then gradually grow longer. The fall equinox occurs on September 23. North of the equator, the nights than gradually become longer than the days.