Aurora purple glow
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills: Equinox Brings on the Celebrations of Spring and Autumn

This week, Sunday Stills celebrates the beginning of spring (and autumn) now that the equinox has ushered in these highly anticipated seasons. I shared hints of spring HERE.

sunrise on aspen tree bud
Spring Awakens

Spring arrived with the Vernal equinox on March 20th in the Northern Hemisphere, while folks living in the Southern Hemisphere celebrated the arrival of autumn. Their days will get shorter as they head toward winter while we in the northern hemisphere head into summer.

autumn light
Light of Autumnal Equinox

In addition to sharing some lovely images of spring and autumn, let’s discover the nerdy science behind the equinox.

According to National Geographic: “Every six months, once in March and again in September, an equinox splits Earth’s day almost in half, giving us about 12 hours of daylight and 12 of night.”

Most of us change our clocks during the same months for either equinox to observe daylight saving time. I admit I am still dealing with the effects of springing the clocks forward and losing that one hour of sleep, but I’m not complaining about the light mornings and evenings now.

sunlight in window
a Light Bursts Through

“The equinox offers us a natural reset, a chance to recenter before moving forward.” – Mia Stiber Russh

So, yes, I believe most of us understand why and when the equinox happens on planet Earth. But did you know the equinox makes it more likely for us to see a lunar eclipse or an aurora…fact or fiction?

Why You May See the Northern Lights Near the Time of the Equinox

In this article, Is the Equinox the Best Time to Visit Northern Lights? Fact vs Fiction, author Nicholas Clark explains: “To understand why the auroras tend to be more frequent during the equinoxes, we need to look at the Russell-McPherron effect. During the equinoxes, the Earth’s magnetic field is better aligned with the interplanetary magnetic field carried by the solar winds. As a result, the alignment allows more particles to penetrate the Earth’s magnetosphere. As the particles penetrate deeper into the upper atmosphere, they create more vivid aurora displays.”

This app notification appeared on my phone on March 21, 2025. You can see on the left image the KP Index is 5.00! Excellent chance of seeing the northern lights where I live! The picture on the right shows the colored bands of intensity compared to where we live (Blue dot). Did I see an aurora one day after the equinox? NO…it was cloudy 😨

app

But I saw my share of northern lights in 2024, beginning with the May 10th show. The Kp Index that night was an astounding 9 on a scale of Kp0 to Kp9! The Kp index is the key metric Aurora watchers use to tell how strong a display of the Northern Lights will be and how far from the Arctic Circle they’ll be visible.

Aurora's Rays in pink
Pink Rays of Northern Lights, May 2024

I always mistakenly believed Auroras only happened in the winter. In my own experience, I saw the aurora dazzle us in Northeastern Washington on May 10, 2024, a few weeks after the spring equinox.

2024 was a fantastic year for seeing active northern lights due to Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and all that science (read more here).

Miss Aurora appeared again on September 16, just days before the northern hemisphere’s Autumnal equinox, and again with another strong series of lights on October 7.

woman looking at northern lights
Me and the Northern Lights
aurora
October 7 display

Three days later, October 10 featured an incredibly rare G5 CME event (Kp Index 9), which we saw while visiting the Northern Cascades in Northwest Washington.

Miss Aurora’s Corona

What About Eclipses?

Lunar Eclipses occur twice a year during a full moon. They do NOT necessarily coincide with the equinox. But the month of March 2025 is a celestial bonanza complete with several events to pique the imagination!

lunar eclipse

According to the Greenwich Sentinel, “March 2025 is a showcase of celestial rhythms. Eclipses highlight the precision of planetary orbits, the equinox signals seasonal balance, and the planets stage their silent performances.”

  • In early March, four planets—Venus, Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter—engaged in their own celestial dance.
  • The International Space Station was visible in its orbit beginning March 10.
  • The lunar eclipse, called the Worm Moon, not to be upstaged by yet another equinox, put on a 60-minute show on March 14.
lunar eclipse

I caught this lunar eclipse (with my camera) in November 2022, demonstrating that eclipses don’t always occur during the equinox.

November 2022 Lunar Eclipse
November 2022 Pink Lunar Eclipse

On March 29, a partial solar eclipse will be visible in Eastern Canada and the northeastern US at dawn. It’s a busy month for all things celestial! 🌒

“The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.” – Henry Van Dyke

Closer to Home…

Eagles soar above, looking for nesting material and food for their eaglets…

Bald Eagle circle Lake Couer D'Alene
Bald Eagle Soars over Lake Couer d' Aline

Droplets form a dainty universe…

droplet

And four years ago, on March 21, we celebrated finally getting our keys to our home! What a great start to SPRING!

Getting the Keys!

Sharing for Dawn’s Spring Festival, Hammad’s Weekend Sky, and Johnbo’s Cellpic Sunday.

pink flower border

Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders

The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post. Please use your own original images, whether new or from your archives.

  • Remember to title your blog post a little differently than mine.
  • Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
  • Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
  • I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.

Thank you for your comments and links last week. A few of you mentioned having trouble leaving comments, and oddly, every comment posted, so thank you for sticking with it.

I can’t wait to see how you interpret this week’s theme! Creativity is encouraged, so please share your own photographs (old or new), poems, original short stories, and music inspired by the theme. Join me next week as we explore “National Take a Walk in the Park Day.”

How do you celebrate the onset of spring or autumn? Show us your changing seasons, sunrises and sunsets, cosmic photos, or special activities—the sky is the limit…

signature purple floral

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114 comments

  5. I think one of the best parts of blogging is following along and celebrating milestones with one another. I remember when you got your keys to the new house. Love thinking that we have been pals all this time.

    Look at the magnificence you captured in your camera lens this spring. It was very dusty and windy the night of the eclipse here in El Paso so I didn’t bother to even try to see the moon. But my daughter on the other side of town captured some great shots with her phone. That’ll teach me. Amazing that you can even see the topography of the moon in your shots.

    I think my favorite photo of this collection is the tiny, delicate universe reflected in the drop of water. Magical. Other-wordly. Like something seen in an enchanted forest.

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  6. Yay! Spring is here! I love your northern lights photos, Terri. But I’m equally impressed with lthe unar eclipse, the Worm Moon photos. You have wonderful memories of spring. The most exciting thing was getting the key to your new home.

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      • Wow, 75F! The forecast said we would be in 76F or higher but didn’t. It’s sprinkling on and off but I worked in the garden anyway.
        Our garden construction finished in February last year. I didn’t have enough time to prepare the soil for planting, so I continued to mend the rest of the soil this year.
        You moved four years ago. We did two years ago. And Marsha moved just now.
        Me too, can’t believe we’re here for two and a quarter years.

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  13. I’m much more of an autumn fan, Terri. However, I do enjoy these early spring days when it isn’t hot or humid, even though we have clear blue skies. The cool nights also help me sleep much more easily.

    Today, in the UK, we also have the Spring Tide. This is the tide that occurs just after a new or full moon when there is the greatest difference between high and low water. This happens twice a year in the UK; the other occurrence is in September, although it is also known as a spring tide. If it occurs during a storm, it can lead to significant flooding. Thankfully, we are enjoying some lovely spring-like weather at the moment, so no storm!

    Our clocks spring forward this Sunday (also Mothering Sunday), so I am not looking forward to losing that hour as, like you, it puts me out of place and takes me at least a week to catch up. I never mind when the clocks fall back, though.

    Have a lovely spring, and enjoy the new life and new beginnings it brings.

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    • Thank you, Hugh! I enjoyed sharing spring’s celestial moments. That’s fascinating about the spring tides. Those full moons can really affect the world tides. The US West Coast experiences high tides during the equinoxes, too. I love the onset of spring, but autumn wins the day for me, too. Hope the spring forward of the clocks doesn’t bother you too much. It takes me 3 weeks to get realigned. Have a great week!

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  17. Terri,

    The aurora has fascinated me sine elementary school when an Alaskan student visited our class and shared a slide presentation of the show. I’ve always wanted to see it in person, but your pictures are just as good. We’re in Oklahoma and heading home. I’m told that the Dogwoods are about to do their spring thing and I’m excited. Your moon shots are the bomb! Have a great day! Joe

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  18. You’ve given us quite a light show, but I love the water show the best. What a cool reflective drop. I love that you got your new keys four years ago, and almost to the day we got ours here. It’s hot here – 84 degrees. I went out to take a few pics while we wait for our refrigerator. Trying to find easy, compelling examples of the spring equinox. No beautiful drips, though.

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    • Thank you, Marsha! We’re at 68 degrees here, near a record high and maybe over 70 tomorrow. Your 80 is like our 70, warm enough to open up the house and turn on the ceiling fans! No complaints here! I caught that cute drop off our rose bushes in Sacramento years ago. Your sunshine will be welcomed for the challenge! Maybe a cool sunset?

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  19. So many beautiful photos, Teri. The northern lights were wonderful last year, and Miss Aurora’s Corona is fantastic! Wow, what a shot. Your moon photos are stunning too, as well as the raindrop. You outdid yourself. Keep those smiles coming and happy spring!

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  23. Wow! I loved all the information. Thank you so much for that.
    Your pictures are fabulous. The northern lights you saw were breathtaking. I always enjoy moon photos, and yours were fabulous. But my favorite was the water drop! Happy Spring!

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  24. Stunning shots of the Northern Lights Terri. And I loved the pussy willows pic. You made an understatement when you said “celestial bonanza”, great term for the planetary madness, lol. 🙂 x

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  27. Dear Terri
    GREAT pictures of northern lights 👍👍 We saw them only that powerful in north Norway and Finland. And thanks for your explanations 🙏 🙏
    Wishing you a wonderful week
    The Fab Four of Cley
    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

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  35. Terri, I always marvel at your Aurora photos. One of the meteorologists I follow said we would have a slight showing of the Northern Lights last night, but only if you were away from city lights, but he said we will have a lot of geomagnetic storms, so there will be ample opportunities to view the Northern Lights this Spring and Summer. Surely, I will be lucky at least one time! Last night at 2:00 a.m. (prime viewing) it was going to be 25 degrees!

    How nice someone was there to capture your picture the day you moved into your new home.

    When I saw the Challenges, I planned to do a post on Fall, just because I like to be different, but also because I had a walk from last Fall when we finally got some color in the leaves – in fact I may have mentioned doing the Fall post in the post about the “snag” because I had more pictures of that row of dead trees, this time interspersed with trees with red leaves.

    But, I went to the Detroit River to see the remaining ice floes on a very warm Winter day, so I switched gears totally.

    Sometimes Seasons Collide …

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    • Thank you, Linda! I have so many aurora photos (as well as those from Antelope Canyon) that it would take me years to share them all. I hope you get the chance to see the lights. We have so very little light pollution where we live. You’re a bit south but I’m sure, barring overcast skies, you can see them with your lens. Last May, it was warm enough to stay out til almost 1am snapping aurora pics. But in the northern Cascades last October I nearly froze. I couldn’t stop seeing the lights actually moving, so I stubbornly kept taking pics. You can tell those because the stars are blurry 😁
      The pic of us was a selfie, Hans did a good job!

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      • We had clear skies last night too, so it would have been good in that respect too. You are lucky to have no light pollution – that is the key. That is a great selfie … for most selfies I’ve seen, people’s eyes are not right, often wandering off to one side, so Hans gets an “A” for that picture!

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  38. Beautiful photos. I like the hairy buds at the start. I tried to ‘like’ but it wouldn’t let me, so I’m hoping the comment goes through.

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  40. The Northern lights have been bouncing here for the last 2 nights I never tire of watching them no matter the time of year. We see them less in summer as the horizon only goes dark for about 3 hours so way less time when they are visible but I’ve seen them.
    The lunar eclipse was cloudy as was the planet alignment.

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  45. Lovely captures of the Northern Lights! Missed out on a few occations here due to clouds. Love both autumn and spring, but after all the dark, cold days I do enjoy some warmth and the return of all the flowers.

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  53. So interesting about the aurora, Terri. I will see it one of these days! Loved your aurora and moon photos especially.

    Unfortunately it was cloudy here (surprise) so I didn’t see the lunar eclipse either 😩

    Have a great week ahead!

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