A depiction of the equinox. Credit: Wikipedia

Tomorrow At 17:32 UTC (13:32 EDT) the tilt of the Earth on its axis is such that it is not noticeably tilted north or south.  This means folks at a given latitude in both the northern and southern hemisphere will get the same amount of daylight.

For those of us in more northerly latitudes it also marks the beginning of spring — YAY!

More importantly, tomorrow you will be able to balance an egg on its large end!!  Ok so you can also do that any other day of the year.  For some reason that equinox myth makes the rounds this time of year, sorry, there is nothing special about eggs and equinoxes.

You might think the equinox means equal amounts of day and night, but this is usually not the case.  The term for either of the two days in a year of equal 12 hr days and nights (or as close as it is possible to get) is an equilux.  Typically they are labeled the Vernal or Autumnal Equilux.

Want to check the date of your equilux?  Click here.  Mine is March 18, 2010.

So there you go, oh and if you are disappointed to find out there is nothing special about eggs on the equinox, here’s a tip that might save you some embarrassment in a couple weeks on April Fools Day:  You can tell if an egg is hard boiled or not by simply spinning it.  A hard boiled egg will spin nicely and a raw egg will not.  Try it.