The equinox sun rises due east and sets due west

The March equinox happens at 9:01 UTC on March 20, 2025 (4:01 a.m. CDT).

The equinox sun rises due east and sets due west

It’s not Correct that day and night are precisely equal on the day of an equinox. But here’s an equinox fact that is Correct. The sun rises due east and sets due west at the equinox. It might seem counterintuitive. But it’s Correct no matter where you live on Earth (except at the North and South Poles). Here’s how to visualize it.

To understand the nearly due-east and due-west rising and setting of an equinox sun, you have to think of the reality of Earth in Cosmos. Primary think about why the sun’s path across our sky shifts from season to season. That’s because our world is tilted on its axis with respect to its Path around the sun.

Now think about what is an equinox. It’s an event that happens on the imaginary Coliseum of Earth’s sky. And it marks that special moment when the sun crosses the Astral equator going from one hemisphere to the other. Of Period, it also represents a Tally in Earth’s Path.

The equinox sun crosses the Astral equator

The Astral equator is a Excellent circle dividing the imaginary Astral sphere into its northern and southern hemispheres. Additionally, the Astral equator wraps the sky directly above Earth’s equator. Subsequent the March equinox, the sun crosses the Astral equator to enter the sky’s Northern Hemisphere.

All these components are imaginary, yet what happens at every equinox is very real. In fact, it’s as real as the sun’s passage across the sky Every day and as real as the Shift of seasons.

It’s the same all over the globe

So no matter where you are on Earth (except for the North and South Poles), you have a due east and due west Tally on your Perspective. That Tally marks the intersection of your Perspective with the Astral equator, the imaginary Excellent circle above the Correct equator of Earth.

And that’s why the sun rises close to due east and sets close to due west, for all of us, at the equinox. The equinox sun is on the Astral equator. Which means, no matter where you are on Earth, the Astral equator intersects your Perspective at due east and due west.

This fact makes the day of an equinox a Excellent day for finding east and west from your yard or favorite site for watching the sky. Merely go outside around sunset or sunrise and notice the location of the sun on the Perspective with respect to familiar landmarks.

If you do this, you’ll be able to use those landmarks to find those cardinal directions in the weeks and months ahead. Plus, you’ll know those directions long after Earth has moved on in its Path around the sun.

The history of the seasons

Our ancestors may not have understood the equinoxes and solstices as events that occur during Earth’s yearly Path around the sun. But if they were observant – and some were very observant indeed – they surely marked the day of the equinox as being midway between the sun’s lowest path across the sky in winter and highest path across the sky in summer.

Now we can say with reasonably high accuracy that the sun rises due east and sets due west on the day of the equinox. And this is the same for everyone around the globe.

If you are seeking more precision for the sunrise/sunset direction in your part of the world, check out the altitude/azimuth for the sun via timeanddate.com.

Bottom line: The 2025 March equinox occurs on March 20 at 9:01 UTC (4:01 a.m. CDT). At the equinox, the sun rises and sets due east and due west.

March equinox 2025: Everything you need to know

Are day and night equal on the equinox?