Equinox and solstice dates, 2026 to 2030.
·Checked September 4, 2026. Rewritten every morning; the instants themselves do not change.
The next one is the September equinox, Wednesday, September 23, 2026, 00:06 UTC, 18 days from now.
An equinox or solstice is a single instant, not a day. It happens at one moment for the whole planet, and the calendar date depends on where you are when that moment arrives. The table below gives the exact instant of every equinox and solstice from this year through the next four, in UTC, so you can convert it to your own clock. Below the table is what each event actually is and why the dates wander.
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When are the equinoxes and solstices?
| Year | Event | Date and time (UTC) |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | March equinox | Fri, Mar 20, 2026, 14:46 |
| 2026 | June solstice | Sun, Jun 21, 2026, 08:25 |
| 2026 | September equinox | Wed, Sep 23, 2026, 00:06 |
| 2026 | December solstice | Mon, Dec 21, 2026, 20:50 |
| 2027 | March equinox | Sat, Mar 20, 2027, 20:25 |
| 2027 | June solstice | Mon, Jun 21, 2027, 14:11 |
| 2027 | September equinox | Thu, Sep 23, 2027, 06:01 |
| 2027 | December solstice | Wed, Dec 22, 2027, 02:42 |
| 2028 | March equinox | Mon, Mar 20, 2028, 02:17 |
| 2028 | June solstice | Tue, Jun 20, 2028, 20:02 |
| 2028 | September equinox | Fri, Sep 22, 2028, 11:45 |
| 2028 | December solstice | Thu, Dec 21, 2028, 08:20 |
| 2029 | March equinox | Tue, Mar 20, 2029, 08:02 |
| 2029 | June solstice | Thu, Jun 21, 2029, 01:48 |
| 2029 | September equinox | Sat, Sep 22, 2029, 17:38 |
| 2029 | December solstice | Fri, Dec 21, 2029, 14:14 |
| 2030 | March equinox | Wed, Mar 20, 2030, 13:52 |
| 2030 | June solstice | Fri, Jun 21, 2030, 07:31 |
| 2030 | September equinox | Sun, Sep 22, 2030, 23:27 |
| 2030 | December solstice | Sat, Dec 21, 2030, 20:10 |
Grayed rows have already passed. Convert from UTC: US Eastern is UTC minus 4 in summer and minus 5 in winter, UK is UTC in winter and UTC plus 1 in summer, Central Europe is one hour ahead of the UK, Sydney is UTC plus 10 or 11.
What happens at an equinox?
The Sun crosses the celestial equator, the projection of Earth's equator onto the sky. At that instant the Sun is directly over the equator, and the boundary between day and night runs through both poles. Day and night are close to equal everywhere, though not exactly: the atmosphere bends sunlight upward near the horizon and the Sun is a disc rather than a point, so most places get a few minutes more than twelve hours of daylight on equinox day. The date with exactly twelve hours, the equilux, falls a few days before the March equinox and a few days after the September one.
What happens at a solstice?
The Sun reaches its farthest point north or south of the equator, 23.4 degrees, which is Earth's axial tilt. At the June solstice the Sun stands overhead at the Tropic of Cancer and the northern hemisphere has its longest day; at the December solstice it stands over the Tropic of Capricorn and the south has its longest day. The Sun's noon height changes very slowly around a solstice, which is where the word comes from: Latin for "Sun stands still." The earliest sunrise and latest sunset do not fall on the solstice itself but a few days either side, because the length of the solar day is also shifting.
Why does the date move between the 19th and the 23rd?
The tropical year, the time from one March equinox to the next, is 365 days 5 hours 49 minutes. A calendar year is 365 days, so each equinox lands about 6 hours later than the one before, then jumps back a day when a leap year adds February 29. Over the four-year leap cycle the instant drifts later and snaps back, and over the 400-year Gregorian cycle it drifts around a two-day window. That is why the March equinox can fall on the 19th, 20th, or 21st depending on the year and your time zone, and the December solstice on the 20th, 21st, or 22nd.
Why is the equinox not the same date everywhere?
Because it is one instant. The September 2026 equinox is at 00:05 UTC on September 23, which is the evening of September 22 across the Americas. The December 2026 solstice is at 20:50 UTC on December 21, which is already December 22 for anyone east of UTC plus 3, from Moscow and Dubai through India, China, Japan, and Australia. Any site that lists a single date without a time and a zone is rounding.
Which full moon is the Harvest Moon?
The full moon nearest the September equinox, which is the one rule-based full moon name. Usually that is the September full moon, but when the September moon falls early and the October moon is closer to the equinox, October takes the name. The 2026, 2027, and 2028 full moon calendars assign the Harvest Moon for each year from the equinox instant in this table.
How are these instants computed?
The instants on this page come from the Astronomy Engine ephemeris library, run each morning by the same job that rewrites the rest of the site, and are accurate to about a minute. They were checked against Fred Espenak's equinox and solstice tables at astropixels.com and the US Naval Observatory's seasons data.
Quick answers.
When is the next equinox or solstice?
The live block at the top of this page names it with the UTC instant and the days remaining, rewritten every morning.
Is the equinox the day with equal day and night?
Almost. Because of atmospheric refraction and the size of the Sun's disc, the day with exactly twelve hours of daylight, the equilux, falls a few days before the March equinox and a few days after the September one.
Is the solstice the shortest or longest day?
Yes, for the hemisphere in question. It is not the day of the earliest sunrise or latest sunset, which fall a few days either side because solar noon is drifting at the same time.