STEM Ed Announcement: Spring equinox programs at UMass Sunwheel

["Mort Sternheim" <mort@k12s.phast.umass.edu>]

This is a UMass Amherst program
 Contact information is below.
 
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 Spring equinox programs offered at Sunwheel
  
 The public is invited to witness sunrise and sunset associated with
 the spring equinox among the standing stones of the UMass Amherst
 Sunwheel on Wednesday, March 20 at 6:45 a.m. and 6 p.m. The events
 mark the astronomical change of seasons when days and nights are
 nearly equal in length in the Northern Hemisphere.
  
 At the gatherings, which have attracted more than 10,000 visitors
 over the past 15 years, astronomers Judith Young and Stephen
 Schneider will discuss the astronomical cause of the suns changing
 position during the hour-long gatherings. They will also explain the
 seasonal positions of Earth, the sun and moon, phases of the moon,
 building the Sunwheel, and answer questions about astronomy.
  
 The exact time of the vernal equinox this year is 7:02 a.m. Eastern
 Daylight Time. This ushers in the beginning of spring and is also the
 day the sun rises into the sky to be visible for six months as seen
 from the North Pole, and the day it sets for six months as seen from
 the South Pole.
  
 On the equinox, an observer located on the Earths equator will see
 the sun pass directly overhead at local noon, and that person will
 cast no shadow at noon. On any day other than the equinox, either the
 earths Northern or Southern Hemisphere is tilted towards the sun.
  
 For observers, except those at the North and South Poles, the sun on
 the equinox (for equi, equal and nox, night) rises due east and sets
 due west and stays up for 12 hours and down for 12 hours. From the
 Sunwheel in Amherst, observers see a very lovely sight as the sun
 rises and sets through the stone portals in the east and west
 directions, Schneider notes.
  
 Teachers can earn certificates of participation for attending
 seasonal gatherings at the Sunwheel, details at:
 www.astro.umass.edu/~young/pdp.html
  
 The Sunwheel is located south of McGuirk Alumni Stadium, just off
 Rocky Hill Road about  mile south of University Drive. Visitors to
 the Sunwheel should be prepared for especially wet footing this year.
 Rain or blizzard conditions cancel the events. Donations are welcomed
 and will be used to help with the cost of additional site work at the
 Sunwheel and future events.
  
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