Mark the 2026 Spring Equinox
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The public is invited to celebrate the spring equinox, which marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring, at the standing stones of the UMass Amherst Sunwheel on Friday, March 20 at 6:45 a.m. and 6:15 p.m. These hour-long Sunwheel events, at sunrise and sunset, mark the astronomical change of seasons when days and nights are nearly equal in length all around the world.
At the gatherings, Grant Wilson of the College of Natural Sciences's Department of Astronomy will discuss the astronomical cause of the sun’s changing position during the gatherings. He will also explain the seasonal positions of Earth, the sun and moon, phases of the moon, and the building the Sunwheel, and he will answer questions about astronomy.