Meteorological autumn began on Sept. 1, but astronomical autumn is Sept. 22 at 8:44 a.m., what we call the autumnal equinox.
We get day and night because the Earth takes 24 hours to rotate once. But the Earth is also revolving around the sun and is tilted at 23.5 degrees.
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The summer solstice (or the first day of summer) for us here in Florida happens when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the sun.
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The winter solstice in December is when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted "away" from the sun, and that means the first day of summer for the Southern Hemisphere.
The halfway points are the autumnal equinox and the vernal equinox, when the Earth is tilted neither toward nor away from the sun, allowing the equator to have exactly 12 hours of day and night on these two days each year.
