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Ephemeris: 09/28/2026 – What happens to the Earth during Autumn

September 28, 2026 Leave a comment

This is Ephemeris for Monday, September 28th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 51 minutes, setting at 7:28, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:38. The Moon, 2 days past full, will rise at 8:04 this evening.

Autumn is a season of change. The Sun, at noon each day, will not rise as high as the previous day. Sunrises will occur progressively later each day, while the Sun sets progressively earlier. This is not occuring by the earth moving away from the sun giving us colder temporatures. In fact throughout autumn we’re moving slowly closer to the Sun. But the entire yearly range in the sun’s distance change is only 3 million miles out of 93 million. The reason for the change of season is the tilt of the axis of the Earth to its orbital plane around the sun. The axis of the Earth points in a single direction, currently towards the star Polaris, so as the Earth moves around the Sun the Earth’s axis appears to change its orientation with the Sun.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

A diagram of the true shape of the Earth’s orbit and position of the Sun showing aphelion and perihelion, equixoxes and solstices for the year 2026.
A diagram of the true shape of the Earth’s orbit and position of the Sun showing aphelion and perihelion, equixoxes and solstices for the year 2026. The dates do vary by up to a couple of days each year as do the distances a little bit. The date differences for perihelion and aphelion are a bit more than the date change of the solstices and equinoxes from year to year. Created using my LookingUp app, LibreOffice Draw for captions, and GIMP.
Categories: Concepts, Ephemeris Program, Seasons