Technologies

How to Actually See the September Equinox This Weekend

It’s an important annual milestone: autumn equinox north of the equator and spring equinox to the south.

The September equinox arrives on Saturday morning (late Friday PT), signaling a shift in seasons.

The fact that the September and March equinoxes, along with December and June solstices, happen at the same time each year suggests the milestones have something to do with Earth’s year-long journey around the sun. And, of course, they do, but there’s more going on.

On the equinox the sun appears directly over the equator, which means that daylight and nighttime hours are roughly equal around the globe, hence the word equinox.

But if you picture a diagram of the solar system with all the planets in the same plane orbiting the sun endlessly, you might ask why it isn’t equinox every day instead of just two days a year? This is because of a weird quirk of our world, which is that Earth doesn’t rotate on its axis straight up and down; instead the planet is tilted by 23.5 degrees.

This is actually what gives us our seasons. When Earth is at the point in its orbit where the north pole is tilted toward the sun, that’s summer in the northern hemisphere and also the time of year when the sun is higher in the sky. The moment when the sun is highest in the sky in the north is the June solstice. When it’s lowest in the sky in the north and highest in the south, that’s the December solstice.

The equinoxes are the midway points between the two solstices, the moment Earth crosses the point in its orbit when one hemisphere begins to receive more sun than the other. Or, astronomically speaking, the moment one of Earth’s poles transitions to be closer to the sun than the other. This happens next at 11:50 p.m. PT Friday, which will be Saturday morning or afternoon for much of the rest of the world.

How do I see it?

An equinox is really just a milestone along our 365.25-day journey around the sun, but there are a few ways to see it, kind of.

No matter where you are on Earth on equinox day, the sun will rise as close to due east and set as close to due west as it ever will. It’s the one day the sun is a pretty foolproof compass. This makes the equinox a handy day for wayfinding. If you go outside at sunrise Saturday, take note of any landmarks directly in front of the sun as it rises. Now you’ll know with confidence that those landmarks are due east from your location. Same goes for anything in front of the setting sun in the west.

Pay close attention and you’ll notice something else about an equinox sunrise and sunset — they go by more quickly than on any other day of the year. Because the sun is rising due east and setting almost perfectly west, it’s also coming up and going down at the steepest angle of the year. This means it takes fewer seconds for the full disc of the sun to emerge above the horizon and then disappear below it again in the evening.

The actual difference between the fastest sunset and the slowest sunset, which is — you guessed it — on the solstice, is only about 30 seconds at middle latitudes. In other words, an equinox sunrise is faster by about one-sixth compared to a solstice sunrise. Try timing it and marking it on your calendar and then doing the same in three months at the next solstice.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Feb. 5, #500

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Feb. 5, No. 500.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. As an old-school Minnesota Twins fan, I was excited to see the last name of our most legendary player on the grid. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: QB is another one.

Green group hint: Hit it out of the park.

Blue group hint: Great gridiron signal-callers.

Purple group hint: Half of a thousand.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Football positions, abbreviated.

Green group: Members of the 500-HR club.

Blue group: First names of QBs to throw 500 career TDs.

Purple group: ____500.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is football positions, abbreviated. The four answers are CB, OT, S and TE.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is members of the 500-HR club. The four answers are Banks, Bonds, Foxx and Killebrew.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is first names of QBs to throw 500 career TDs. The four answers are Aaron, Drew, Peyton and Tom.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____500. The four answers are ATP, Daytona, Indy and WTA.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Thursday, Feb. 5

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Feb. 5

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? The Across clues were kind of tricky today, but the Down clues helped me fill in the grid. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Battery warning from a smoke detector
Answer: CHIRP

6A clue: Word that can precede «book» or «tour»
Answer: AUDIO

7A clue: Extreme edge
Answer: BRINK

8A clue: Like a wobbly screw
Answer: LOOSE

9A clue: Type in
Answer: ENTER

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Alternative to streaming
Answer: CABLE

2D clue: One of the Great Lakes
Answer: HURON

3D clue: Dummy
Answer: IDIOT

4D clue: Wash under a tap
Answer: RINSE

5D clue: Game in which Paul Newman successfully cons a crime boss in «The Sting»
Answer: POKER

Technologies

Fitbit Launches Luffu, AI-Powered Health Tracking for the Whole Family

Soon, you may be able to access every family member’s health data in one place.

If you’ve ever wanted a way to keep all of your family’s health records in place, Fitbit may have come up with a solution. Fitbit, well-known for its fitness wearables, announced the launch of its own health care system on Wednesday.

Luffu, which translates to the Old English word for «love,» uses AI to create what it calls an «intelligent family care system.» The platform allows family members to share all their health information through an app.

It’s unclear when Luffu will be officially available, but you can sign up for the waitlist to get access to the limited public beta. Pricing or other details have not been announced.

Luffu will allow families to keep track of everyone’s doctor’s appointments, test results, vaccine records, medications, symptoms, diet and more. The platform uses AI to learn your family’s health history and patterns, and to alert you to any changes that should be addressed, such as missed medications or abnormal vitals. The AI function organizes the data submitted into the system. The app will also connect to third-party apps and wearables, such as the Fitbit.

Luffu is meant to lighten the mental load of family care by organizing all this health data in one place, its co-founder said.

«I was caring for my parents from across the country, trying to piece together my mom’s health care across various portals and providers, with a language barrier that made it hard to get a complete, timely context from her about doctor visits,» said Luffu co-founder James Park.

Luffu will include alerts and a space to log health and medication information via voice, text, photos, and other health portals and devices. The key medical information can be shared across the platform with spouses, caregivers and parents.

A representative for Fitbit did not immediately respond to a request for comment.