The word “equinox” is derived from Latin and literally translates to “equal night”.

On these days, everywhere on Earth experiences roughly 12 hours of sunshine and 12 hours of darkness.

The Earth’s axis is tilted at an average of 23.5 degrees.

As the Earth travels on its year-long path around the Sun it is tilted towards or away from the Sun, which gives us our seasons.

But, on the day of an equinox, the tilt of Earth’s axis is perpendicular to the Sun’s rays, producing a nearly equal amount of day and night all over the world.

Normally, the autumn equinox falls between 22 and 24 September, and this year the equinox occurs on 22 September at 13:44 BST.