Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| Summer heat has overstayed its welcome for many in September. But if you’re looking forward to cooler weather, Thursday’s autumnal equinox is a reminder that fall is finally on our doorstep. 
 
 The 2016 fall equinox arrives Sept. 22 at 10:21 a.m. Eastern. What happens on the equinox — and why are day and night not quite equal? Check out these five questions (and answers) to learn more. 
 
 1. What happens on the equinox? 
 
 Like the spring equinox in March, the autumnal equinox marks an astronomical turning point of the seasons. 
 
 [Take the quiz — Which season are you?] 
 
 Since the Earth is tilted on its axis of rotation by 23.5 degrees, the Northern and Southern hemispheres receive different amounts of amounts of sunlight throughout the year. On the equinox, however, the orbital plane of the equator becomes geometrically aligned with the center of the sun so that neither hemisphere is tilted away or toward the sun (visualize Earth’s axis going into the screen in the image below): 
 
 From our Earthbound perspective, the sun appears directly overhead along the equator, and day and night are roughly equal in length (emphasis added — see No. 4). 
 
 2. Where does the sun rise and set on the equinox? 
 
 (Daniel Schroeder/Weber State University) 
 
 The fall equinox is one of only two days each year when all points on Earth — apart from the polar regions — see the sun rise due east and set due west along the horizon. Until the winter solstice in December, the sun continues to rise and set farther to the south. 
 
 As the sun takes a shorter, lower path across the sky, we experience more darkness than daylight, and cooler temperatures as a result. 
 
 3. How fast are we losing daylight around the equinox? 
 
 Rapidly! Though the days have steadily been getting shorter since the summer solstice, the earlier arrival of dusk becomes especially noticeable by September. That’s because the Northern Hemisphere loses daylight at its fastest pace around the September equinox. The District loses 2 minutes and 30 seconds of daylight each day, while cities across the northern tier lose close to three minutes or more. 
 
 Data from timeanddate.com (Justin Grieser) 
 
 The rate of daylight change depends on your latitude, or distance from the equator. In Miami — located just north of the tropics — daylight dwindles by only 90 seconds a day. At the opposite extreme lies Fairbanks, Alaska. Located just 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle, residents there see nearly 7 minutes of daylight loss around the September equinox — not exactly uplifting! 
 
 4. Why are there more than 12 hours of daylight on the equinox? 
 
 Though equinox means “equal night” in Latin, both of Earth’s hemispheres get slightly more than 12 hours of daylight on the equinox. In the District sunrise on the fall equinox is at 6:56 a.m. and sunset at 7:04 p.m., bringing a total of 12 hours and 8 minutes of daylight. 
 
 There are two reasons for this. One is atmospheric refraction. This optical phenomenon bends the sun’s light as it passes through Earth’s atmosphere and causes the sun to appear slightly higher in the sky than it actually is. 
 
 (NOAA/Earth System Research Laboratory) 
 
 The other is how we define sunrise and sunset. The sun appears as a disk, not a single point. Sunrise is defined as the moment the sun’s upper edge appears on the horizon, while sunset doesn’t occur until the sun’s upper edge disappears from the horizon. Together, these factors add about 10 minutes of daylight to the equinox, depending on one’s distance from the equator. 
 
 The map below — by Alaska-based meteorologist Brian Brettschneider — shows when we can expect equal daylight and darkness. In most of the lower 48, the exact 12-hour day occurs three or four days after the fall equinox. 
 
 5. Why does it get dark so quickly around the equinox? 
 
 We observe the sun setting much earlier as September progresses, but what about how quickly it gets dark? If you’re an astute observer, you may have noticed that daytime transitions to night a bit faster than it did a month or two ago. Indeed, the fastest sunsets of the year occur around the two equinoxes. 
 
 This happens because the sun crosses the horizon at a slightly steeper angle than it does on the solstices. As a result, we see the sun appear and disappear from the horizon more quickly. The difference is almost imperceptible closer to the equator, but is much more pronounced at higher latitudes, such as the cities across the northern tier, Canada and Alaska: 
 
 Comparison of twilight length in four U.S. cities throughout the year. Civil twilight refers to the time before sunrise and after sunset when the sun is 6 degrees or less below the horizon. (Justin Grieser) 
 
 Notice that at all times of year, twilight lasts longer the greater your distance from the equator (compare Seattle vs. Miami, for example). Yet each location sees faster sunsets — and shorter twilights — around the spring and fall equinox. In March, we usually don’t notice the shorter twilight because the days are already getting longer. In September, on the other hand, we are more likely to observe not just how much earlier it gets dark, but also how quickly nighttime falls. 
 
 As we plunge into the darker months of the year, it’s won’t be long before temperatures fall as well. So if you’re ready for crisp mornings, pumpkins and hot cider, the fall equinox is a day to celebrate. ||||| EVERY year on September 22 the autumn equinox occurs, marking the end of summer. 
 
 Here's everything you need to know about the autumnal equinox and whether you can actually balance an egg on this day. 
 
 Rex Features 2 The autumn equinox signals the end of summer and start of autumn for the northern hemisphere 
 
 What is the autumnal equinox? 
 
 The autumnal equinox an event which is celebrated around the world and it's when day and night will be almost equal in most locations. 
 
 The date marks the Northern Hemisphere's autumnal equinox and the Summer Hemisphere's spring equinox. 
 
 Contrary to popular belief, the event isn't all day long, it actually occurs at a specific time when the sun crosses the celestial equator and the Earth's rotational axis is tilted neither away nor towards the sun. 
 
 Astronomers also see this as when autumn officially starts in the Northern Hemisphere - even though meteorologists regard it as starting on September 1. 
 
 When is the autumnal equinox? 
 
 The autumnal equinox takes place on September 22 every year but in very rare cases it can fall on the 21st or 24th - although that hasn't happened since 100CE. 
 
 The next time the date will fall on the 21st is 2092 and in 2393 the equinox will occur on September 24. 
 
 Astronomically the September equinox marks the end of summer and the beginning of autumn but for meteorologists autumn begins in the Northern hemisphere three weeks before and ends November 30. 
 
 Can you really balance an egg on the autumn equinox? 
 
 Getty Images 2 What is the autumnal equinox and can you really balance an egg? 
 
 Many people claim that you can balance an egg or a broom on their ends when the equinox occurs because of of the gravitational pull. 
 
 But the truth is, you can balance an egg any day of the year if you have the right egg and practice it. 
 
 Egg balancing is a traditional Chinese practice that is often connected with Lichun, the solar term for the Chinese springtime, and an egg is used to symbolise new life. 
 
 Boffins investigate whether you really can balance an egg Egg balancing, most popular at the spring equinox in March but said to be possible in both seasons, has attracted publicity in recent years — with scientists sceptical and ritual-makers adamant. Finally a scientist has published research into the matter and concluded that yes indeed, he could balance an egg — actually several eggs — at the moment of the equinox. But, on the other side of the coin, he was also able to do so at lots of other times. "The upshot is that, as far as I can tell, there isn't too much relationship between astronomical phenomena and balancing eggs. It is basically a function of the shape of the egg and the surface," said astronomer Frank D. Ghigo. Ghigo, of the University of Minnesota, decided to study egg balancing after receiving questions about it from members of the public who had read about the annual spring egg balancing festival in New York City. Ghigo used four samples of a dozen eggs each, which he attempted to balance on their large ends on a Formica tabletop each day between Feb. 27 and April 3, 1984. The spring equinox occurred on March 20, 1984. Ghigo found the eggs have many bumps and irregularities and with patience some of them could be made to balance virtually every day — while some eggs would simply never balance, on the equinox or otherwise. He concluded that "the mood and persistence of the balancer has a major effect on the balancing rate. If one is impatient or nervous, the rate is low." Over time, Ghigo found, the percentage of eggs he could balance improved, concluding "I think I got better, just through practice." Source: Associated Press, 1987
– An eventful day on the equinox front: We've entered autumn, as of 10:21am EDT, per National Geographic. That means that Sept. 22 will see 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night in the Northern Hemisphere, and our part of the Earth will start to lean further away from the sun as we head into winter. If the arrival of autumn is a depressing signal for you that we're hurtling toward the upcoming cold-weather solstice, the magazine points out it could be worse, a la Game of Thrones: The angle of Uranus' axial tilt is so extreme that its winters last 42 years at a time. Some other tidbits as the leaves start to fall: The Washington Post offers a scientific Q&A for all things autumnal. Don't miss Google's main page, where, per SearchEngineLand.com, its Doodle continues the story of a bunch of rocks who were there with us to witness March's vernal equinox. The Sun does some myth-busting about first-day-of-fall egg balancing. Bustle offers some ideas—some practical, some hedonistic—for celebrating the change of season. Circle back to National Geographic for a list of celestial viewings this week, including a brightly shining Saturn.