Difference Between Equinox and Solstice - A Complete Guide

Introduction
There are various kinds of terms we get to know in our daily life at the beginning of every fall. In the 21st century, the spring season will knock on the door on the twentieth of march with the appearance of the vernal equinox and on the day of 21st of December, we will greet the fall of winter with the appearance of the solstice. But apart from all these things and tracing the transformation from one period to the next period, what exactly do these terms define? What is the difference between equinox and solstice exactly?

JEE Main/NEET 2027: Physics Important Formulas for Class 10

NEET 2025:  Mock Test Series | Syllabus | High Scoring Topics | PYQs

JEE Main: Study Materials | High Scoring Topics | Preparation Guide

JEE Main: Syllabus | Sample Papers | Mock Tests | PYQs

To get a greater acknowledgement of all these things, you should remember that the planet earth is behaving like a top and spins around in motion or in other words, it can be said that the earth rotates from west to east creating a one rotation complete in the time period of 24 hours. But the axis of our peak of the earth is not aligned by a direct up and down but instead, we can state that it’s a little tilted by an angle of 23.5^o. And we can cooperate with all these things. We found that tilt with the spinning of the earth which is around the sun and it gives us detectable differentiation in the height of the concentration of daylight as well as with fluctuation in temperature which happens along, as the year went by.

Also read - NCERT Solutions for Class 8 Science Chapter 17 Stars and The Solar System

The falls or seasons are very nicely taught by the astronomers. That is as the antiquity of that, the earth is a little tilted and as it spins around the sun which happens each- every year. The sun which sometimes emits light more in the northern hemisphere is nothing but our summer season and sometimes the sun emits more light on the southern hemisphere that is nothing but our winter season. We can state that it is in the middle of each of these extremes. And there is a time when the sun emits light around all parts of our planet earth in equivalent concentrations for an entire day as compared with the equinoxes.

Beginning with the planet earth, it comes into view that just like it became visible to people prior to the history of the dawn that the location of the midday sun proceeds in the sky. On the first day of the summer solstice, appears in the northern hemisphere as the noon sun shows up high above in the sky. It should be known that the sun shines about 8 hours prior to noon and sets down 8 hours following noon. Accordingly, to all of the things stated above the climate changes to warm. At the equinoxes namely, autumnal and the vernal, the sun is shining bright in the sky for a time period of 12 hours. But we can state that the first day of winter marks the winter solstice.

Also read -

• NCERT Solutions for Class 11 Physics
• NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Physics
• NCERT Solutions for All Subjects

The main difference between equinox and the solstice

The main differentiating point between the solstice and the equinox is that the equinox is a condition where daylight and night-time are equal while the solstice is either the shortest day or longest day of the year.

What is the equinox?

At the time period of the equinox, it is noted that the surface of earth manifests an equivalent length of daylight and the night, that is the daylight consist of 12 hours max and the darkness or the night consist of 12 hours max. The equinox appears in the spring-fall and the autumn fall. In the fall of autumn, the equinox appears on 21st of the September, and it is taken in view that at that time, the equinox becomes visible on the southern hemisphere, but in the equinox of spring-fall, which marks the beginning on the 20th or 21st march and it becomes visible on the northern hemisphere. The time or hemisphere may fluctuate from year to year.

We can also state that the equinox is such a particular time of the year when a certain part of the earth is very adjacent to the sun, and at the location of the exact equator, everything to the south pole from the north when the range gets the equal concentration of sunlight. The equinox of the imposed dates of march and September may fluctuate about three days each in a year. In the northern hemisphere, at the time of the equinox of vernal, night and day are equivalent in length at the beginning of the spring. In the equinox of autumn, night and the day, both are equivalent in length at the beginning of autumn.

The word equinox is obtained from the context of Latin, which is a mixture of two terms “Aequus” meaning equal and “nox” meaning right, thus the word equinox states the meaning of equal nights. The equinox states the immediate time at which the earth’s plane along with the equator passes directly through the sun's middle region.

What is the solstice?

The word solstice is obtained from the Latin context “solstitium” meaning sun-stopping. At the time of the solstice, the sun backwards ceases its direction and at the tip of the horizon, the sun shines.

Every year, the solstice shows up two times, namely in winter and the summer. During the course of the solstice, the sun appears at the lowest tip or the highest tip in the sky at noon and exhibits the lengthiest day and shortest days of the year.

The falls are getting restrained in the particular hemisphere, this is the reason why winter solstice bears the smallest day of the year, that is 21st of December and summer solstice bears the lengthiest day of the year that is 21st of June. The word solstice, has various definitions and is also used to define for the day when it happens. On the solstice day, when there is more sunlight on the hemisphere, it is known as the summer solstice. And when the hemisphere experiences the lesser sunlight then it is known to be the winter solstice.

NCERT Physics Notes :

• NCERT Notes class 11 physics
• NCERT Notes class 12 physics
• NCERT Notes for all subject

What is the difference between solstice and equinox

• Equinox is a particular period of time, at day or night, while the solstice is associated with the sunlight during the course of summer or winter.
• An equinox takes place in September or March, whereas the solstice takes place in December or June.
• Equinox is concerned with the equal length of night or day, whereas it deals with the length of day.
• An equinox occurs for a particular duration of time on day or night, whereas the solstice happens for the whole day.
• Equinox point is the nearest distance to the equinox, whereas the solstice is at the longest distance from the earth.
• Solstice is for the longest time period as compared to the equinox.
• Equinox takes place twice a year, in each fall, whereas solstice appears once in summer and once in winter.
• An equinox occurs in autumn and spring initially whereas the solstice occurs during the entire winter and the summer.

In this way, we can distinguish between equinox and solstice/differentiate between equinox and solstice.

Also, check-

• NCERT Exemplar Class 11th Physics Solutions
• NCERT Exemplar Class 12th Physics Solutions
• NCERT Exemplar Solutions for All Subjects