Happy vernal equinox or more commonly known as the start of astronomical spring.
Spring 2019 officially begins at 4:58 p.m. This is when the sun is directly over the equator as the southern hemisphere tilts away from the sun and the northern hemisphere tilts towards the sun. The tilt towards the sun will give us warmer weather and longer days. Today we see twelve hours and eight minutes of sunshine.
Every day, we will gain more minutes of sun time until we reach nearly 14 and a half hours by the summer solstice.
Today is also March’s full moon, called the full worm moon. The full moon occurs at 8:42 p.m., sunset is at 7:21 p.m., and it is also a supermoon.
A supermoon is when the full moon appears larger and brighter due to it being at the closest point to the earth in the moon’s monthly orbit. This is 2019’s third and last supermoon.
The worm moon name comes from the time of the year associated with the ground becoming moist allowing the return of earthworms and birds hunting them.
The worm supermoon coinciding with the spring equinox is rare. The last time this happened was in 1981, and it will not happen for another eleven years! If you take any pictures of the Vernal Equinox Super Worm Moon, be sure to send them in!
