NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection

Discovery Spring

Welcome to the equinox [ http://solar.physic…Sundials/equinox.htm l ]! Moving northward in Earth's sky, today the Sun crosses [ http://www.analemma…] the celestial equator at 13:31 Universal Time [ http://aa.usno.navy…] bringing Spring to the north and Fall to the south. The change of season is known as an equinox as the Sun rises [ http://solar.physic…Sundials/sundials.ht ml ] due east on the horizon and sets due west -- providing an equal night [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], 12 night and 12 daylight hours, for both northern and southern hemispheres. In this picture [ http://www-pao.ksc.…2001/mar/01pp0440.ht m ] from March 8, the Sun peers over the eastern horizon at the space shuttle Discovery's dramatic morning launch on mission STS-102. Having delivered supplies and taxied crew to the International Space Station [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], Discovery will remain in orbit for this first day of northern hemisphere Spring. Discovery is scheduled to land [ http://www-pao.ksc.…] at Kennedy Space Center [ http://www.ksc.nasa…] in Florida early tomorrow.

NASA [ http://spaceflight.…]

equinox

space shuttle

spring

discovery

Florida

Montana

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

Washington, D.C.

Kennedy Space Center (KSC)

Earth

Sun

Space Shuttle Orbiter

International Space Station (ISS)

http://antwrp.gsfc.…

SPD-APOD-ap010320