Happy Fall Equinox, or Mabon!  Of course, our spherical planet also gives us the beautiful symmetry of the Spring Equinox (& Ostara) being celebrated now by our Southern Hemisphere friends.  The equinoctial moment, this year, is on September 23rd, at ~6:50 am UTC (or 2:50 am EDT).  Coincidentally, the possible awakening of the Vikram lander and Pragyaan rover with the Lunar sunrise are anticipated near the moment of the September Equinox!    

In addition to being a stunning scientific achievement, the Pragyaan Rover can be seen as highlighting our Equinox celebrations.  That’s because it is scheduled to attempt to reawaken with the Lunar sunrise near the moment of our worldwide Equinox this year.  For those in the Southern hemisphere, this seems to me to be a wonderful connection to the idea of the returning light we see on their spring Equinox – especially if it successfully wakes up.  Note that waking up is not going to be easy.  The lunar night plunged to temperatures colder than 200 degrees below zero, and the electronics and structures of both the Vikram lander and Pragyaan rover are not designed to survive that level of thermal stress.  There is a very good chance that they are both now non-functional lunar displays.  So, conversely, if they don’t wake up, then maybe they make a fitting testament to victory of the dark in the Northern Hemisphere, a reminder that so much of our lives is temporary, and that darkness is sometimes how things work out.

In either case, we are encouraged by the huge success of the mission, which already fulfilled it’s planned accomplishments.  In all cases, we, as humans, learned a lot from this mission, which will make future successes more likely.  In all cases, we can imagine Vikram and Pragyaan wishing us a very happy Equinox!  And, at least for me, the fact that we can draw either power message is a testament to the power of our human minds in finding meaning in so many different situations.  We are indeed meaning making animals.

Celebrations

Some of the ways many of us are celebrating were published a few weeks ago.  In addition to those, the night sky is rapidly becoming more accessible now with the growing darkness.  This growing darkness can be a reminder that this is a great time of year for campfires, and celestial events like auroras – especially with Solar Cycle #25 now starting up (see last year’s September Equinox post)-  or a time to look more inward.  In whatever way you are celebrating, Happy Equinox!