General

What does science know about the most beautiful time of the year?

Autumn is a transitional period between the warmestand the coldest time of the year. With the onset of autumn, while our planet continues to move in orbit, and the trees drop colorful leaves, the nights become longer and the days are shorter. This order of things is maintained until the winter solstice. Regardless of the date on the calendar, in the Northern Hemisphere, autumn begins on the day of the autumnal equinox, which falls on September 22 or 23, and ends on December 21 or 22, the day of the winter solstice. But the inhabitants of the southern hemisphere meet autumn from March to June. However, this time of year is interesting not only with a riot of colors and long nights. We invite you to get acquainted with some interesting facts about this cool time.

It turns out those born in the fall live longer

Content

  • 1 Why do the days of the equinox and the days of the solstice fall on different dates?
  • 2 People born in autumn live longer
  • 3 Why does autumn in Europe look different than in the USA or Asia?
  • 4 What is a fruitful moon?

Why do equinox days and solstice days fall on different dates?

So, for starters, let's see whylast Monday, September 23, was special. The fact is that from September 23, 2019, on the day of the autumnal equinox, astronomical autumn began. The sun, moving along the ecliptic - the trajectory of the star in orbit throughout the year - has moved from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern. From this moment on almost the entire planet, with the exception of some regions, day and night will last almost the same number of hours. The equinox occurs twice a year - in September and March. On equinox days, the Sun equally illuminates both hemispheres and about 12 hours is above and below the horizon.

In autumn, parks and forests are especially beautiful.

Solstice days also happen twice a year -in summer and winter. The solstice is the day in a year when the sun rises to the smallest or greatest height above the horizon. Thus, the winter solstice, which usually falls on December 21 or 22, marks the shortest day and longest night of the year. From this moment, according to the astronomical calendar, winter begins in the Northern Hemisphere, and summer begins in the Southern Hemisphere.

You might be interested: Walking in the park makes people happy.

The reason that the days of the equinox andsolstices do not always fall on the same day of the calendar, it is that the Earth moves around the Sun not exactly 365 days, but 365, 25 days. To compensate for this discrepancy, the so-called "leap years" were invented for two millennia. By adding a “leap day” - February 29 - to the calendar every four years, mankind was able to maintain a more or less constant reckoning.

People born in autumn live longer

A study developed by a team of scientists fromUniversity of Chicago, USA, published in the Journal of Aging Research, showed that children born in the fall are more likely to live to be 100 years old than those who were fortunate enough to be born at other times of the year. There are many factors that affect a person’s life, including nutrition and physical activity, the presence or absence of bad habits, the state of the environment, etc. Now, according to the results of the study, another factor has appeared that can play a key role in life expectancy: a month birth.

About what other factors affect life expectancy, read on our channel in Yandex.Zen.

Scientists came to this conclusion by analyzingdata from more than 1,500 people born between 1880 and 1895, whose life expectancy was 100 years or more, and then compared with the life expectancy of 12 thousand of their brothers, sisters and spouses. The results showed that 30% of American centenarians born between 1880-1895 were born in the fall months. As for the months with the lowest life expectancy, those born in March, May and July live 40% less long-livers.

It turns out that the month of birth affects life expectancy

Why does autumn in Europe look different than in the USA or Asia?

A careful observer will notice that in autumnNorth America and East Asia, tree foliage predominantly flashes a deep red color. At the same time, shades of yellow dominate in Europe, and red tones are very rare. But why? Scientists believe that this may be due to the evolution of deciduous trees over the past 35 million years. Mountain ranges stretching from north to south dominate North America and East Asia. Over the past 35 million years, ice ages have alternated with warm ones.

How often do you pay attention to what color prevails among the falling leaves?

So, the trees gradually extended north andsouth along valleys and ridges to finally find a suitable place to live. Like insect pests. This probably triggered an evolutionary arms race that led to protective red pigments called anthocyanins. In Europe, mountain ranges are more oriented east-west. At this height, trees and insects were in quarantine. If they were too cold, they simply died. Thus, the production of anthocyanins was not numerous, therefore, few species of trees acquired bright red tones during evolution.

What other interesting facts about autumn do you know? Let's discuss them in the comments and our Telegram chat.

What is a fruitful moon?

It looked like a fruitful moon on Friday 13

Closest to the autumn equinoxcalled fruitful. It's all about the extraordinary brightness of the celestial luminary on this day. Traditionally, a productive moon gave farmers the opportunity to work late. Usually the harvesting moon falls in September. This year she graced the night sky on Friday the 13th.