An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

The date on which the day and night have exactly the same length. Contrary to the widespread statement, the day and night are not equal at the → equinox. The higher the → latitude, the greater the difference. In fact the day and night lengths are equal at the equinox only if the strict theoretical definition is used, according to which sunset and sunrise are the moments when the center of the Sun crosses the → horizon. There are two reasons for this inequality:

1. The Sun is a disk, not a point source. It is about 30 arc minute wide, hence sunrise corresponds to the moment the top of the disk (and not its center) emerges out of the horizon. Similarly, sunset is when the last part of the disk sinks below the horizon. The Sun takes about a minute to move from its center to its edge (the Earth rotates about 1 degree in 4 minutes). This sums to two minutes (a minute for sunset and a minute for sunrise) that adds to 4 minutes in the total difference.
2. The atmosphere acts as a lens, and slightly bends the Sun’s rays because of the → atmospheric refraction. When we look at the setting Sun, the fact is that it was already set.

Unlike the equinox, which is a fixed date all-over the globe, the date

of the equilux is dependent upon the → latitude of the observer. Between the poles and about 20 degrees latitude, it is generally a few days before the → vernal equinox or a few days after the → autumnal equinox .

See also: → equi-; → lux.