Today, Quito will become the closest city on planet Earth to the Sun; it is the Equinox.

This weekend, we visited Mitad del Mundo, the middle of the world.  Commonly referred to as the Equator.  Near Quito, there are two prominent celebrations of this.  The first, established some time ago, is presented with great pomp and circumstance, complete with flowered gardens, stone walkways, and a four story tower with an observatory.  The second is 250 meters away from the more well known line, was discovered eighteen years ago with GPS, and is the exact middle of the earth.  This true Equatorial line is complete with experiments to illustrate the effects and significance of this very real line.  Balancing acts, two sided sun dials, and tubs of draining water that illustrate the opposing Coriolis effects on the different sides of the equator.

My favorite picture below shows my hand over a sun dial.  We were so close to the Equinox that the sun dial cast nearly no shadow.  Today at noon CST the sun dial will cast no measurable shadow and the earth will be in balance.

The Coriolis Effect causes counter clockwise rotation in the Northern Hemisphere (Tornado) and clockwise rotation in the Southern Hemisphere (Typhoon).  However, at the equator, this rotation does not exist.  To illustrate, see the video below to watch water in a basin drain straight down with no vortex.  The leaves fall straight through.  Amazing.