Thursday is the Last Day of Summer

With Thursday the last day of summer 2011, fall is just hours away—and that means another fall (or autumnal) equinox, is coming on Friday.

What is the autumnal equinox? Don't feel bad if you don't know. Most people don't quite know, so let Hazelwood Patch explain.

Equinoxes fall on the halfway point between  and occur, according to the Washington Post, "when the sun crosses the equator and day and night are of roughly equal length, everywhere in the world."

The nearly equal 12 hours of light and darkness can be attributed to the Earth's lack of an axial tilt on the day of the equinox. In fact, the word equinox is derived from the Latin words aequus, meaning equal, and nox, meaning night.

In Hazelwood on the autumnal equinox, according to sunrisesunset.com, the sun will come up at 6:49 a.m. and set at 6:59 p.m. As you notice, that is not actually a perfect 12 hours of light and darkness. As timeanddate.com reports, this is because "the day is slightly longer in places that are further away from the equator, and because the sun takes longer to rise and set in these locations.

The exact moment of the autumnal equinox this will occur Friday at 4:05 a.m. CDT, according to MSNBC. "If you look high toward the east-southeast at sunrise, you’ll see a lovely crescent moon, and hovering above and to its left will be a modestly bright "star" with a yellow-orange tinge. That's no star, but rather the famous Red Planet, Mars."

You might be hard pressed to find a celebration at that hour, but don't let that stop you from indulging in fall festivities.

There are quite a few fall events in the .

Sept. 24: Stop by the City of Hazelwood's at the .

Sept. 27: The City of Hazelwood will "Celebrate Safe Communites," with block parties and events in neighborhoods throughout the city.

Oct. 1: "Celebrating Women," a month long tribute to the gender, begins at St. Louis Mills.

Oct. 8: . Attend the City of Hazelwood's encore to it's . 7 p.m. at .

Oct. 17: The City of Hazelwood's fall leaf collection program begins.

Goodby summer. We're sad to see you go. Hello fall. We welcome the way the leaves turn brights shades or orange, yellow, red and brown.