September equinox 2023
When is the September equinox 2023?
The September equinox 2023 is on
Saturday, September 23, 2023 (in 114 days).
Calendar for 2023
Please note: The dates given on this page are based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which for practical purposes is equivalent to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). While the September equinox occurs at the same moment in time all over the world, the date and local time differ from location to location depending on a location's time zone. For more details see the explanations below.
What is the September equinox?

The September equinox marks the beginning of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere
The September equinox, also called southward equinox, is the moment in time (not a day-long event) when the Sun stands directly above the equator while crossing from the north to the south. For the Northern Hemisphere (where nearly 90% of the world's population live) it is the
autumn equinox (
fall equinox) as it is the moment when
summer ends and
autumn (
fall) begins, while for the Southern Hemisphere it is the
vernal equinox (
spring equinox), the moment when
winter ends and
spring begins. Up until the September equinox the Sun rises and sets more to the north of the equator, and afterwards it rises and sets more to the south.
The September equinox usually occurs every year
between September 21 and 24. The dates given on this page are based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which for practical purposes is equivalent to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT - the time zone of the United Kingdom). While the September equinox occurs at the same moment in time all over the world, the date and local time differ from place to place depending on the year and a location's time zone. For locations that are ahead of UTC (further east) it may fall on the day after, and for locations that are behind UTC (further west) it may fall on the day before. To find out the exact date and time of the September equinox 2023 in your area use this
seasons calculator.
The September equinox is one of four days with solar events (two equinoxes and two solstices) throughout the year that mark the beginning of a new season. The other days are the
March equinox, the
June solstice and the
December solstice.
The word "equinox" is derived from Latin and means "equal night". On the day of an equinox, day and night are of approximately equal length all over the world, as the Earth's rotational axis is neither tilted away from nor towards the Sun. At all other times the length of day and night will be different.
The exact moment of the September equinox through the centuries

Graph demonstrating the movement (caused by leap shifting) of the exact moment of the September equinox between 1900 and 2520. X axis (bottom, horizontal): Calendar years, Y axis (left, vertical): day in September (21 to 23).
In a non-leap year, the moment of the September equinox is about 5 hours 49 minutes
after that moment in the previous year (in UTC), and in a
leap year it is about 18 hours 11 minutes
before that moment in the previous year, as can be seen in this graph. In this way the time of the September equinox constantly shifts back and forth so it always stays between September 21 and 24. This four year cycle is clearly visible in the graph.
To adjust for the gradual movement backwards on the calendar (as visible for the period 1900 to 2099), in years divisible by 100 (1900, 2100, 2200, 2300 and 2500 on the graph), which should be leap years as they are divisible by 4, the leap day is omitted (except when they are divisible by 400, eg. 2000 and 2400) and the moment of the September equinox moves forward in time compared to the same moment in the year before.
Further reading:
Overview: seasons, equinoxes and solstices
Dates shown apply to the Northern Hemisphere and are based on UTC (GMT)
When is the September equinox 2024?
The September equinox 2024 is on
Sunday, September 22, 2024 (in 479 days).
Calendar for 2024
Dates for the September equinox from 2018 to 2028
The next occurrence of the September equinox is marked in
red.
When is ...? |
Date |
Day of the week |
Days away |
September equinox 2018 |
September 23, 2018 |
Sunday |
1712 days ago |
September equinox 2019 |
September 23, 2019 |
Monday |
1347 days ago |
September equinox 2020 |
September 22, 2020 |
Tuesday |
982 days ago |
September equinox 2021 |
September 22, 2021 |
Wednesday |
617 days ago |
September equinox 2022 |
September 23, 2022 |
Friday |
251 days ago |
September equinox 2023 |
September 23, 2023 |
Saturday |
in 114 days |
September equinox 2024 |
September 22, 2024 |
Sunday |
in 479 days |
September equinox 2025 |
September 22, 2025 |
Monday |
in 844 days |
September equinox 2026 |
September 23, 2026 |
Wednesday |
in 1210 days |
September equinox 2027 |
September 23, 2027 |
Thursday |
in 1575 days |
September equinox 2028 |
September 22, 2028 |
Friday |
in 1940 days |
Data provided 'as is' without warranty |
Free printable 2023 calendar templates
A selection of downloadable, printable calendar templates for 2023 with US federal holidays, suitable for a variety of applications. Available for Word, Excel and PDF.
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events index