Hurricane Polo has undergone rapid intensification just off the southwestern coast of Mexico. On the morning of September 21, 2026, it was tropical storm, and by the morning of September 22, it was a Category 5 hurricane. Category 5 hurricanes have sustained wind speeds of more than 157 mph (252 km/h). Image via CIRA.
Hurricane Polo explodes into a Category 5
On Tuesday morning, September 22, 2026, Hurricane Polo reached Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale. It’s churning just off the southwestern coast of Mexico, about 200 miles (328 km) southwest of Acapulco, with sustained winds of 160 mph (260 km/h). Just one morning prior, Polo was a tropical storm of just 45 mph.
The super-charged El Niño has brought warm waters to the eastern Pacific. In this region, sea-surface temperatures are around 88 F (31.2 C). This has helped Polo strengthen so quickly.
Only two hurricanes on record have ever undergone a more rapid intensification than Polo. One was Hurricane Patricia in 2015 and the other was an unnamed hurricane in 1957. You might also remember Hurricane Otis from 2023 that devastated Acapulco. That storm intensified at a similar rate as Polo.
Where is Polo headed?
At the moment, Hurricane Polo is spinning off the shore of Mexico in the eastern Pacific. And for the rest of the week, the National Hurricane Center expects Polo to move slowly off the coast of Mexico. On Tuesday, Polo will head east, but by evening and on Wednesday it is forecast to take a sharp northwest and west-northwest turn. Currently, the forecast calls for Polo to remain offshore. However, the coast will feel tropical storm-force winds. Excessive rainfall is also a concern. The NHC said:
Polo is expected to produce rainfall totals of 4 to 8 inches, with isolated maximum totals up to 12 inches across coastal portions of the Mexican states of Guerrero and Michoacán through Thursday. This rainfall may produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in areas of steep terrain. Rainfall of 3 to 6 inches is possible in coastal portions of Oaxaca, Colima, and Jalisco through Thursday.
High waves and rip tides will also be a threat.
Hurricane Polo should stay offshore of southwestern Mexico over the next week. Image via NHC.
What happens next?
Where this storm will go by early next week is still unknown. Will it bring moisture to the American Southwest? As Yale Climate Connections said:
Long-range models suggest that steering currents will likely push Polo on a more north-northwest track by that point, and that could bring Polo into Baja California and push a surge of moisture toward northwest Mexico and the southwest United States.
But its true path is still unclear. And another low-pressure system, Tropical Storm Odalys, is just west of Polo. If they both hold up, the could meet in the next week.
The worst winds from Hurricane Polo should stay offshore for the coming week, but some areas of the coast will still feel Polo’s wrath. What’s the cone coming in from the west, where it appears it might merge at the top? That is a different storm, Tropical Storm Odalys. It is too soon to know how these storms might interact. Image via NHC.
Bottom line: Hurricane Polo has undergone rapid intensification just off the southwestern coast of Mexico. It went from a tropical storm to a category 5 hurricane in a day.
Hurricane Polo has undergone rapid intensification just off the southwestern coast of Mexico. On the morning of September 21, 2026, it was tropical storm, and by the morning of September 22, it was a Category 5 hurricane. Category 5 hurricanes have sustained wind speeds of more than 157 mph (252 km/h). Image via CIRA.
Hurricane Polo explodes into a Category 5
On Tuesday morning, September 22, 2026, Hurricane Polo reached Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale. It’s churning just off the southwestern coast of Mexico, about 200 miles (328 km) southwest of Acapulco, with sustained winds of 160 mph (260 km/h). Just one morning prior, Polo was a tropical storm of just 45 mph.
The super-charged El Niño has brought warm waters to the eastern Pacific. In this region, sea-surface temperatures are around 88 F (31.2 C). This has helped Polo strengthen so quickly.
Only two hurricanes on record have ever undergone a more rapid intensification than Polo. One was Hurricane Patricia in 2015 and the other was an unnamed hurricane in 1957. You might also remember Hurricane Otis from 2023 that devastated Acapulco. That storm intensified at a similar rate as Polo.
Where is Polo headed?
At the moment, Hurricane Polo is spinning off the shore of Mexico in the eastern Pacific. And for the rest of the week, the National Hurricane Center expects Polo to move slowly off the coast of Mexico. On Tuesday, Polo will head east, but by evening and on Wednesday it is forecast to take a sharp northwest and west-northwest turn. Currently, the forecast calls for Polo to remain offshore. However, the coast will feel tropical storm-force winds. Excessive rainfall is also a concern. The NHC said:
Polo is expected to produce rainfall totals of 4 to 8 inches, with isolated maximum totals up to 12 inches across coastal portions of the Mexican states of Guerrero and Michoacán through Thursday. This rainfall may produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in areas of steep terrain. Rainfall of 3 to 6 inches is possible in coastal portions of Oaxaca, Colima, and Jalisco through Thursday.
High waves and rip tides will also be a threat.
Hurricane Polo should stay offshore of southwestern Mexico over the next week. Image via NHC.
What happens next?
Where this storm will go by early next week is still unknown. Will it bring moisture to the American Southwest? As Yale Climate Connections said:
Long-range models suggest that steering currents will likely push Polo on a more north-northwest track by that point, and that could bring Polo into Baja California and push a surge of moisture toward northwest Mexico and the southwest United States.
But its true path is still unclear. And another low-pressure system, Tropical Storm Odalys, is just west of Polo. If they both hold up, the could meet in the next week.
The worst winds from Hurricane Polo should stay offshore for the coming week, but some areas of the coast will still feel Polo’s wrath. What’s the cone coming in from the west, where it appears it might merge at the top? That is a different storm, Tropical Storm Odalys. It is too soon to know how these storms might interact. Image via NHC.
Bottom line: Hurricane Polo has undergone rapid intensification just off the southwestern coast of Mexico. It went from a tropical storm to a category 5 hurricane in a day.
This is last year’s Fat Bear Week champion, Bear 32 aka “Chunk.” After finishing as the runner-up in previous years, Chunk won the 2025 title — after making a remarkable recovery and bulking up despite a broken jaw and injured paw from earlier in the season. He’s officially in the 2026 Fat Bear Week tournament, defending his crown. Go Chunk! Read more about him from the U.S. National Park Service.
Every year, Explore.org hosts Fat Bear Week, celebrating the hibernation prep for brown bears in Katmai National Park, Alaska. In 2026, Fat Bear Week runs from September 22 to 29. At this time of year, brown bears are packing on the pounds with the goal of surviving winter. Explore.org hosts live webcams in the park, so you can watch them fatten up on salmon and other available food. And you can vote on your favorite!
For Fat Bear Week, the bears are paired up in head-to-head matches, similar to your March Madness brackets. You can vote on who you think is the chubbiest chunk simply by clicking the picture of you chosen bear. You’ll have to enter your email when prompted, so there will only be one vote per email address. After you vote, you can see the results of the polls so far.
So, when can you start voting? The polls are open between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. CDT from September 22-29.
Go! Cast your vote for the 2026 champion of ursine eating!
Meet 128 Grazer. She won back-to-back Fat Bear titles in 2023 and 2024. And she’s still going strong. She’s been observed at Brooks River in Katmai National Park throughout 2025 and 2026, where she successfully raised her cub (128 Jr.) before separating from her in early summer 2026. She wasn’t selected for this year’s Fat Bear tournament. But 2 of her offspring — Bear 428 “Studious” and Bear 903 “Gully” — are competing! Image via NPS/ M. Carenza.
Why fat bears?
Explore.org explains:
During hibernation, bears do not eat or drink and lose one-third of their body weight. Their winter survival depends on accumulating ample fat reserves before entering the den.
To get fat, bears gorge on the richest and most accessible foods they can find. In Katmai National Park that often means salmon. Dozens of bears gather at Brooks River to feast on salmon from late June until mid-October. Perhaps no other river on Earth offers bears the chance to feed on salmon at one place for so long.
Meet 435 Holly. This bulky brown bear in Katmai National Park was the winner of Fat Bear Week back in 2019. Image via NPS/ L. Carter.
Meet the bears of Fat Bear Week
Get to know the bears in competition for the Fat Bear title. Visit this page to see not just single adult males and females, but also subadults and bear families with a mom and cubs!
Here’s a peak at some of the nominees.
This is bear 131. She did a good job of packing on the pounds over the summer. Image via Explore.org.This bear is 164 Bucky. He’s made good use of his summer by pumping up the plump. Image via Explore.org.Mama bear 132 and her 3 cubs have also been gaining girth over the summer. Will it be enough to push them to a win? Image via Explore.org.
The brackets for Fat Bear Week 2026
Ready to participate? See all the bears, pick your favorites, and then vote! It’s easy. Just visit FatBearWeek.org.
Here is the bracket for Fat Bear Week 2026. Who will win? Cast your vote at FatBearWeek.org. Image via Sara Wolman/ Explore.org.
Bottom line: It’s time for Fat Bear Week 2026! Vote for your favorite corpulent cutie as the brown bears of Katmai National Park fatten up for winter.
This is last year’s Fat Bear Week champion, Bear 32 aka “Chunk.” After finishing as the runner-up in previous years, Chunk won the 2025 title — after making a remarkable recovery and bulking up despite a broken jaw and injured paw from earlier in the season. He’s officially in the 2026 Fat Bear Week tournament, defending his crown. Go Chunk! Read more about him from the U.S. National Park Service.
Every year, Explore.org hosts Fat Bear Week, celebrating the hibernation prep for brown bears in Katmai National Park, Alaska. In 2026, Fat Bear Week runs from September 22 to 29. At this time of year, brown bears are packing on the pounds with the goal of surviving winter. Explore.org hosts live webcams in the park, so you can watch them fatten up on salmon and other available food. And you can vote on your favorite!
For Fat Bear Week, the bears are paired up in head-to-head matches, similar to your March Madness brackets. You can vote on who you think is the chubbiest chunk simply by clicking the picture of you chosen bear. You’ll have to enter your email when prompted, so there will only be one vote per email address. After you vote, you can see the results of the polls so far.
So, when can you start voting? The polls are open between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. CDT from September 22-29.
Go! Cast your vote for the 2026 champion of ursine eating!
Meet 128 Grazer. She won back-to-back Fat Bear titles in 2023 and 2024. And she’s still going strong. She’s been observed at Brooks River in Katmai National Park throughout 2025 and 2026, where she successfully raised her cub (128 Jr.) before separating from her in early summer 2026. She wasn’t selected for this year’s Fat Bear tournament. But 2 of her offspring — Bear 428 “Studious” and Bear 903 “Gully” — are competing! Image via NPS/ M. Carenza.
Why fat bears?
Explore.org explains:
During hibernation, bears do not eat or drink and lose one-third of their body weight. Their winter survival depends on accumulating ample fat reserves before entering the den.
To get fat, bears gorge on the richest and most accessible foods they can find. In Katmai National Park that often means salmon. Dozens of bears gather at Brooks River to feast on salmon from late June until mid-October. Perhaps no other river on Earth offers bears the chance to feed on salmon at one place for so long.
Meet 435 Holly. This bulky brown bear in Katmai National Park was the winner of Fat Bear Week back in 2019. Image via NPS/ L. Carter.
Meet the bears of Fat Bear Week
Get to know the bears in competition for the Fat Bear title. Visit this page to see not just single adult males and females, but also subadults and bear families with a mom and cubs!
Here’s a peak at some of the nominees.
This is bear 131. She did a good job of packing on the pounds over the summer. Image via Explore.org.This bear is 164 Bucky. He’s made good use of his summer by pumping up the plump. Image via Explore.org.Mama bear 132 and her 3 cubs have also been gaining girth over the summer. Will it be enough to push them to a win? Image via Explore.org.
The brackets for Fat Bear Week 2026
Ready to participate? See all the bears, pick your favorites, and then vote! It’s easy. Just visit FatBearWeek.org.
Here is the bracket for Fat Bear Week 2026. Who will win? Cast your vote at FatBearWeek.org. Image via Sara Wolman/ Explore.org.
Bottom line: It’s time for Fat Bear Week 2026! Vote for your favorite corpulent cutie as the brown bears of Katmai National Park fatten up for winter.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Raúl Cortés captured the September equinox sun from Mexico and wrote: “This photo shows the sun coming out exactly at due west as seen from Cerro del Obispado in Monterrey, Mexico.” Thank you, Raúl! Are day and night equal at the equinox? See below.
The 2026 September equinox will fall at 00:05 UTC on September 23, 2026. That’s 19:05 p.m. CDT on September 22. It’s the Northern Hemisphere’s autumn equinox and Southern Hemisphere’s spring equinox. You sometimes hear it said that, at the equinoxes, everyone receives equal daylight and darkness. But there’s really more daylight than darkness at the equinox, eight more minutes or so at mid-temperate latitudes. Two factors explain why we have more than 12 hours of daylight on this day of supposedly equal day and night. They are:
Illustrations like this one make it seem as if day and night should be equal at the equinox. In fact, they aren’t exactly equal. Image via Wikimedia Commons.
The sun is a disk, not a point
Watch any sunset, and you know the sun appears in Earth’s sky as a disk.
It’s not point-like, as stars are. And yet – by definition – most almanacs regard sunrise as when the leading edge of the sun first touches the eastern horizon. They define sunset as when the sun’s trailing edge finally touches the western horizon.
This provides an extra 2 1/2 to 3 minutes of daylight at mid-temperate latitudes.
Atmospheric refraction raises the sun about 1/2 degree upward in our sky at both sunrise and sunset. This advances the time of actual sunrise, while delaying the time of actual sunset. The result is several minutes of extra daylight, not just at an equinox, but every day. Image via Wikipedia.
Atmospheric refraction
The Earth’s atmosphere acts like a lens or prism. It uplifts the sun about 0.5 degrees from its true geometrical position whenever the sun nears the horizon. Coincidentally, the sun’s angular diameter spans about 0.5 degrees, as well.
In other words, when you see the sun on the horizon, it’s actually just below the horizon geometrically.
What does atmospheric refraction mean for the length of daylight? It advances the sunrise and delays the sunset, adding nearly another six minutes of daylight at mid-temperate latitudes. Hence, more daylight than night at the equinox.
Astronomical almanacs usually don’t give sunrise or sunset times to the second. That’s because atmospheric refraction varies somewhat, depending on air temperature, humidity and barometric pressure. Lower temperature, higher humidity and higher barometric pressure all increase atmospheric refraction.
On the day of the equinox, the center of the sun would set about 12 hours after rising. That’s given a level horizon, as at sea, and no atmospheric refraction.
So, no, day and night are not exactly equal at the equinox.
And here’s a new word for you, equilux. The word is used to describe the day on which day and night are equal. The equilux happens a few to several days after the autumn equinox, and a few to several days before the spring equinox.
Much as earliest sunrises and latest sunsets vary with latitude, so the exact date of an equilux varies with latitude. That’s in contrast to the equinox itself, which is a whole-Earth event, happening at the same instant worldwide. At and near the equator, there is no equilux whatsoever. That’s because the daylight period is over 12 hours long every day of the year.
Bottom line: There’s slightly more day than night on the day of an equinox. That’s because the sun is a disk, not a point of light, and because Earth’s atmosphere refracts (bends) sunlight.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Raúl Cortés captured the September equinox sun from Mexico and wrote: “This photo shows the sun coming out exactly at due west as seen from Cerro del Obispado in Monterrey, Mexico.” Thank you, Raúl! Are day and night equal at the equinox? See below.
The 2026 September equinox will fall at 00:05 UTC on September 23, 2026. That’s 19:05 p.m. CDT on September 22. It’s the Northern Hemisphere’s autumn equinox and Southern Hemisphere’s spring equinox. You sometimes hear it said that, at the equinoxes, everyone receives equal daylight and darkness. But there’s really more daylight than darkness at the equinox, eight more minutes or so at mid-temperate latitudes. Two factors explain why we have more than 12 hours of daylight on this day of supposedly equal day and night. They are:
Illustrations like this one make it seem as if day and night should be equal at the equinox. In fact, they aren’t exactly equal. Image via Wikimedia Commons.
The sun is a disk, not a point
Watch any sunset, and you know the sun appears in Earth’s sky as a disk.
It’s not point-like, as stars are. And yet – by definition – most almanacs regard sunrise as when the leading edge of the sun first touches the eastern horizon. They define sunset as when the sun’s trailing edge finally touches the western horizon.
This provides an extra 2 1/2 to 3 minutes of daylight at mid-temperate latitudes.
Atmospheric refraction raises the sun about 1/2 degree upward in our sky at both sunrise and sunset. This advances the time of actual sunrise, while delaying the time of actual sunset. The result is several minutes of extra daylight, not just at an equinox, but every day. Image via Wikipedia.
Atmospheric refraction
The Earth’s atmosphere acts like a lens or prism. It uplifts the sun about 0.5 degrees from its true geometrical position whenever the sun nears the horizon. Coincidentally, the sun’s angular diameter spans about 0.5 degrees, as well.
In other words, when you see the sun on the horizon, it’s actually just below the horizon geometrically.
What does atmospheric refraction mean for the length of daylight? It advances the sunrise and delays the sunset, adding nearly another six minutes of daylight at mid-temperate latitudes. Hence, more daylight than night at the equinox.
Astronomical almanacs usually don’t give sunrise or sunset times to the second. That’s because atmospheric refraction varies somewhat, depending on air temperature, humidity and barometric pressure. Lower temperature, higher humidity and higher barometric pressure all increase atmospheric refraction.
On the day of the equinox, the center of the sun would set about 12 hours after rising. That’s given a level horizon, as at sea, and no atmospheric refraction.
So, no, day and night are not exactly equal at the equinox.
And here’s a new word for you, equilux. The word is used to describe the day on which day and night are equal. The equilux happens a few to several days after the autumn equinox, and a few to several days before the spring equinox.
Much as earliest sunrises and latest sunsets vary with latitude, so the exact date of an equilux varies with latitude. That’s in contrast to the equinox itself, which is a whole-Earth event, happening at the same instant worldwide. At and near the equator, there is no equilux whatsoever. That’s because the daylight period is over 12 hours long every day of the year.
Bottom line: There’s slightly more day than night on the day of an equinox. That’s because the sun is a disk, not a point of light, and because Earth’s atmosphere refracts (bends) sunlight.
The Stanford Prison Experiment Is Now A Reality Show
Philip Zimbardo’s legendary 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment is one of the most well-known, and notorious, research experiments in recent history.
It has been the subject of countless books, TV episodes and podcasts – and now Netflix is turning it into a reality TV series.
But what was the Stanford Prison Experiment, really? A dive into psychology and cruelty? Or a flawed power trip? And is transforming this infamous event into a reality show tempting fate?
A rundown of Stanford University’s most well-known study
Zimbardo was a psychologist at Stanford University who specialised in environmental psychology, social influences and personality traits.
In 1971, Zimbardo and his team transformed the Stanford University Psychology Building basement into a makeshift prison. He sought to study how prison environments, labels and dehumanisation can impact how regular people treat each other.
The study recruited 24 college-aged men, assigning each participant to be either a “prisoner” or a “guard” via a coin flip.
The guards were given matching uniforms meant to symbolise power, anonymity and identity. The guards also sat down with the researchers for an orientation into how they needed to behave. They were informed to maintain an environment of law and order, to create a sense of powerlessness, but not to be cruel.
Meanwhile, the prisoners were unexpectedly arrested by Palo Alto police. They were booked, fingerprinted and strip-searched. They were assigned their own uniforms which symbolised dehumanisation, humiliation and helplessness.
In Zimbardo’s own narrative of the event, he consistently presents himself as the leader of the guards, the “super-intendent”, not an impartial researcher.
The study was designed to last 14 days. But after multiple emotional and psychotic breakdowns, cruel and collective punishment by the guards, expressions of concern by parents, and multiple critical and appalling reviews by other professors within the department over how the environment had changed everyone – Zimbardo included – the study was terminated after just six days.
Zimbardo’s findings and reflections suggested situational and environmental causes can drive people to adopt criminal, cruel or just vastly different personas from their everyday lives.
Yet, to other researchers, it has become controversial and many have fully dismissed it as unscientific and unethical due to the researcher’s influencing of the guards’ behaviours and biases, a phenomena referred to in experiments as “demand characteristics”.
Subsequent studies have expressed how the experiment cannot be used to discuss how the environment shapes human interaction. Instead, researchers suggest the initial orientation and the role of the researcher’s leadership played a role in influencing the guards’ behaviour, not the environment.
In Zimbardo’s 1973 ethical reflection of the study, he discusses the philosophical implications of the experiment and justified it based on its outcomes, findings and potential impact.
Law enforcement and prison guards are expected, by nature of their jobs, to be tough. But these jobs require more than just muscle and bravado. These careers require observational skills, delicate decision making, legal knowledge, self-control, and yes, physical confrontation.
But these individuals are specially trained for these positions. They require extensive preparation and education, have a system of oversight and transparency, can be openly investigated, and are accountable for their actions. They have to maintain the lawful authority placed upon them and control and maintain those under their supervision, but also while providing care.
While law enforcement and corrections officers do commit violations, they have to answer for them.
Netflix’s shady new show
Netflix is billing its new series as a “modern reimagining” of the 1971 experiment, where 30 people will enter a “real prison” for two weeks.
There are many questions we need to be asking about the ethics of recreating this experiment in a reality show format. How are contestants and producers going to be held responsible? What oversight are they going to have? What authority? And more importantly, who are they?
And given the expectation of this experiment, the publicity and pressure accompanying reality TV, and the nature of people who participate in reality shows, often referred to as self-selection bias, what should we expect from the participants? Will the new “guards” and “wardens” fare any better than Zimbardo?
This show will be copying one of the most notorious breaches of duty of care in research.
With one of the world’s largest streaming services producing this show, it raises important questions about what exactly we remember about the study and what we expect from our media.
Equally important, we should question our willingness to consume it.
By Noah D. Cohen, Associate Lecturer, Associate Degree in Applied Policing, Western Sydney University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Featured image Duke Downey/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images, provided by The Conversation.
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The Stanford Prison Experiment Is Now A Reality Show
Philip Zimbardo’s legendary 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment is one of the most well-known, and notorious, research experiments in recent history.
It has been the subject of countless books, TV episodes and podcasts – and now Netflix is turning it into a reality TV series.
But what was the Stanford Prison Experiment, really? A dive into psychology and cruelty? Or a flawed power trip? And is transforming this infamous event into a reality show tempting fate?
A rundown of Stanford University’s most well-known study
Zimbardo was a psychologist at Stanford University who specialised in environmental psychology, social influences and personality traits.
In 1971, Zimbardo and his team transformed the Stanford University Psychology Building basement into a makeshift prison. He sought to study how prison environments, labels and dehumanisation can impact how regular people treat each other.
The study recruited 24 college-aged men, assigning each participant to be either a “prisoner” or a “guard” via a coin flip.
The guards were given matching uniforms meant to symbolise power, anonymity and identity. The guards also sat down with the researchers for an orientation into how they needed to behave. They were informed to maintain an environment of law and order, to create a sense of powerlessness, but not to be cruel.
Meanwhile, the prisoners were unexpectedly arrested by Palo Alto police. They were booked, fingerprinted and strip-searched. They were assigned their own uniforms which symbolised dehumanisation, humiliation and helplessness.
In Zimbardo’s own narrative of the event, he consistently presents himself as the leader of the guards, the “super-intendent”, not an impartial researcher.
The study was designed to last 14 days. But after multiple emotional and psychotic breakdowns, cruel and collective punishment by the guards, expressions of concern by parents, and multiple critical and appalling reviews by other professors within the department over how the environment had changed everyone – Zimbardo included – the study was terminated after just six days.
Zimbardo’s findings and reflections suggested situational and environmental causes can drive people to adopt criminal, cruel or just vastly different personas from their everyday lives.
Yet, to other researchers, it has become controversial and many have fully dismissed it as unscientific and unethical due to the researcher’s influencing of the guards’ behaviours and biases, a phenomena referred to in experiments as “demand characteristics”.
Subsequent studies have expressed how the experiment cannot be used to discuss how the environment shapes human interaction. Instead, researchers suggest the initial orientation and the role of the researcher’s leadership played a role in influencing the guards’ behaviour, not the environment.
In Zimbardo’s 1973 ethical reflection of the study, he discusses the philosophical implications of the experiment and justified it based on its outcomes, findings and potential impact.
Law enforcement and prison guards are expected, by nature of their jobs, to be tough. But these jobs require more than just muscle and bravado. These careers require observational skills, delicate decision making, legal knowledge, self-control, and yes, physical confrontation.
But these individuals are specially trained for these positions. They require extensive preparation and education, have a system of oversight and transparency, can be openly investigated, and are accountable for their actions. They have to maintain the lawful authority placed upon them and control and maintain those under their supervision, but also while providing care.
While law enforcement and corrections officers do commit violations, they have to answer for them.
Netflix’s shady new show
Netflix is billing its new series as a “modern reimagining” of the 1971 experiment, where 30 people will enter a “real prison” for two weeks.
There are many questions we need to be asking about the ethics of recreating this experiment in a reality show format. How are contestants and producers going to be held responsible? What oversight are they going to have? What authority? And more importantly, who are they?
And given the expectation of this experiment, the publicity and pressure accompanying reality TV, and the nature of people who participate in reality shows, often referred to as self-selection bias, what should we expect from the participants? Will the new “guards” and “wardens” fare any better than Zimbardo?
This show will be copying one of the most notorious breaches of duty of care in research.
With one of the world’s largest streaming services producing this show, it raises important questions about what exactly we remember about the study and what we expect from our media.
Equally important, we should question our willingness to consume it.
By Noah D. Cohen, Associate Lecturer, Associate Degree in Applied Policing, Western Sydney University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Featured image Duke Downey/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images, provided by The Conversation.
This infrared video was recorded over a U.S. military platform in 2025. It shows 6 small apparent spheres or orbs making changes in direction and moving at an estimated 480 miles per hour (770 kph), according to the United States Central Command. The video is part of the 6th batch of Pentagon UAP files. Video via DoD.
The U.S. Pentagon released the 6th batch of formerly hidden UAP files on September 18, 2026.
The release contains a mix of video, image and document files. There are 72 new files in all, and 15 are videos, 56 are documents and one is audio.
The release is part of a continuing rollout of formerly classified files, every few weeks. And again so far, there’s been no “smoking gun” to show that alien craft are visiting Earth. Still, the files are interesting.
Pentagon UAP files: Part 6
The U.S. Pentagon released its 1st batch of declassified UAP/UFO materials on May 8, 2026. And now it has just made public batch 6. There are 72 new files in all in batch 6, including 15 videos, 56 documents and one audio. There are no image files this time around. All the files are on the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE) website.
And as usual, Sean Parnell, Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and Chief Pentagon Spokesman, said in a statement that the Department of Defense:
… is publishing the 6th release of declassified and historical Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) files as part of the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE). The collection continues to be housed at WAR.GOV/UFO, and the Department will release additional files on a rolling basis.
For context, the Pentagon released a 2nd batch on May 22, a 3rd batch on June 12, the 4th batch on July 10 and the 5th batch on August 7, all in 2026.
As has been the pattern for these releases, they are a mixed bag of old and previously known material, and newer material. Do the releases prove aliens exist, or that alien craft are visiting Earth? Not so far.
Likely the most significant record in today’s federal government UAP records release is the audio and transcript of a recording of a 1952 talk on then-recent UFO data and events by Captain Edward Ruppelt, the head of the US Air Force’s Project Blue Book in the early 1950s. The…
One of the more interesting military videos is one recorded of several small spheres over a U.S. military platform in 2025 (see video at top and image below). The infrared video apparently shows six small spheres or orbs, as described by the United States Central Command. The description states:
The United States Central Command submitted a report of an unidentified anomalous phenomenon to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) consisting of one minute of video footage from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform in 2025. An accompanying mission report, DOW-UAP-D108, described the UAP as ‘six small spherical objects grouped together, and characterized their behavior as ‘seem[ingly] agile,’ and ‘frequently changing direction.’ The reporter estimated the speed of the UAP to have been 480 miles per hour [770 kph].
Captain Edward Ruppelt ‘Flying Saucer Talk’ in 1952
Included in this batch is the audio recording of a talk on UAP given byCaptain Edward Ruppelt of the U.S. Air Force on March 26, 1952. Ruppelt later headed the well-known Project Blue Book study of UAP. The description states:
This audio file records a March 1952 presentation by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, outlining the U.S. Air Force’s reorganized investigation into unidentified flying objects (UFOs). The presentation previews prospective technical methodologies, such as diffraction-grating photography and radar-scope synchronization, that were subsequently incorporated into Project Blue Book, a U.S. Air Force program active from 1952 to 1969 that investigated the nature and origin of UFOs. Ruppelt explains that out of approximately 800 historical cases reviewed by the Air Force, approximately 20% remained unexplained after technical analysis.
These unresolved reports were sourced from credible military personnel, commercial pilots and other qualified technical observers. He highlights geographic report concentrations around sensitive national security and nuclear weapons installations (including Los Alamos, Albuquerque, and Oak Ridge National Laboratories) and notes recurring anomalous characteristics, including silent high-speed flight and radar detections indicating unconfirmed air speeds between 1,000 and 3,500 miles per hour [around 1,600 to 5600 kph].
Emphasizing that the Air Force found no conclusive evidence regarding the nature or origin of the phenomena, Ruppelt underscores the national security need for a systematic physical data collection effort to better evaluate these sightings.
20% are ‘good reports’
Ruppelt’s basic conclusion, as stated:
We’ve gone through these reports and come up with the fact that about 20% are very good reports offered by very reliable people and are just absolutely no conclusions can be drawn.
And there’d been some chatter on social media that Ruppelt’s talk included the famous sightings of disks over Washington, D.C. in 1952. But those sightings didn’t happen until July 26, 1952, some months after the talk.
One of the primary documents is the Project Blue Book investigation of the famous Tremonton, Utah, video from July 2, 1952. The film shows a large group of small white objects flying in the blue sky.
The film has also been studied, analyzed and debated multiple times by others ever since, with no firm conclusions. The Project Blue Book study itself suggested sea birds as a likely explanation, however.
The famous Tremonton, Utah, film from July 2, 1952. A large group of small white objects can be seen moving in the blue sky. Video via DoD.
Defense Intelligence Reference Documents
This release also includes 37 “Defense Intelligence Reference Documents,” or DIRDs. They were produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP, 2008-2012) that dealt with fringe or futuristic topics like warp drives, wormholes, antigravity, negative mass propulsion and invisibility cloaking. All of them have already been publicly available for years. Some had been released through Freedom of Information Act releases by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). These “new” versions do include some details that had been previously withheld, though, such as the names of the agency offices that produced the documents.
One 38-page DIRD from 2010 analyzed what the report called:
… evidence of unintended injury to human observers by anomalous advanced aerospace systems.
One case was said to involve:
… three previous fit and active individuals experienced an anomalous [‘irregular, incongruous and inconsistent with their domain’] aerospace-related event.
The individuals were said to have:
… suffered a range of medical symptoms in the aftermath, including heat and redness on their skin and hair loss. One of the individuals showed ‘signs of radiation illness’ and ‘over several years developed signs of malignant transformations.’
6th page of one of the 38 Defense Intelligence Reference Documents (DIRDs) produced for the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) on March 30, 2010. This one covered research into antigravity. Image via DoD.
Legal waiver for government personnel on UAP
And in related news … on September 14, 2026, the U.S. government also announced a legal waiver that would allow current and former employees previously bound by nondisclosure agreements to share UAP-related information with the government’s PURSUE office.
As some have noted, the waiver is only for DOW/DoD employees, not people in the U.S. intelligence community. The press release states in part:
Under this directive, all current and former DOW service members, civilian personnel, and contractors holding or previously granted access to UAP-related National Defense Information (NDI) are authorized to disclose protected information directly to official PURSUE representatives. The waiver supersedes civil and administrative enforcement provisions contained within Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) and Special Access Program Indoctrination Agreements (SAPIAs) previously executed within the United States, strictly for communications directed to the PURSUE team.
This infrared video, submitted by United States Indo-Pacific Command, shows a small white UAP flying above clouds and the ocean in 2023. Video via DoD.
Bottom line: The 6th batch of the Pentagon UAP files has just been released. Read about a U.S. Air Force talk on UAP from 1952, see more videos and more.
This infrared video was recorded over a U.S. military platform in 2025. It shows 6 small apparent spheres or orbs making changes in direction and moving at an estimated 480 miles per hour (770 kph), according to the United States Central Command. The video is part of the 6th batch of Pentagon UAP files. Video via DoD.
The U.S. Pentagon released the 6th batch of formerly hidden UAP files on September 18, 2026.
The release contains a mix of video, image and document files. There are 72 new files in all, and 15 are videos, 56 are documents and one is audio.
The release is part of a continuing rollout of formerly classified files, every few weeks. And again so far, there’s been no “smoking gun” to show that alien craft are visiting Earth. Still, the files are interesting.
Pentagon UAP files: Part 6
The U.S. Pentagon released its 1st batch of declassified UAP/UFO materials on May 8, 2026. And now it has just made public batch 6. There are 72 new files in all in batch 6, including 15 videos, 56 documents and one audio. There are no image files this time around. All the files are on the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE) website.
And as usual, Sean Parnell, Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and Chief Pentagon Spokesman, said in a statement that the Department of Defense:
… is publishing the 6th release of declassified and historical Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) files as part of the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE). The collection continues to be housed at WAR.GOV/UFO, and the Department will release additional files on a rolling basis.
For context, the Pentagon released a 2nd batch on May 22, a 3rd batch on June 12, the 4th batch on July 10 and the 5th batch on August 7, all in 2026.
As has been the pattern for these releases, they are a mixed bag of old and previously known material, and newer material. Do the releases prove aliens exist, or that alien craft are visiting Earth? Not so far.
Likely the most significant record in today’s federal government UAP records release is the audio and transcript of a recording of a 1952 talk on then-recent UFO data and events by Captain Edward Ruppelt, the head of the US Air Force’s Project Blue Book in the early 1950s. The…
One of the more interesting military videos is one recorded of several small spheres over a U.S. military platform in 2025 (see video at top and image below). The infrared video apparently shows six small spheres or orbs, as described by the United States Central Command. The description states:
The United States Central Command submitted a report of an unidentified anomalous phenomenon to the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) consisting of one minute of video footage from an infrared sensor aboard a U.S. military platform in 2025. An accompanying mission report, DOW-UAP-D108, described the UAP as ‘six small spherical objects grouped together, and characterized their behavior as ‘seem[ingly] agile,’ and ‘frequently changing direction.’ The reporter estimated the speed of the UAP to have been 480 miles per hour [770 kph].
Captain Edward Ruppelt ‘Flying Saucer Talk’ in 1952
Included in this batch is the audio recording of a talk on UAP given byCaptain Edward Ruppelt of the U.S. Air Force on March 26, 1952. Ruppelt later headed the well-known Project Blue Book study of UAP. The description states:
This audio file records a March 1952 presentation by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, outlining the U.S. Air Force’s reorganized investigation into unidentified flying objects (UFOs). The presentation previews prospective technical methodologies, such as diffraction-grating photography and radar-scope synchronization, that were subsequently incorporated into Project Blue Book, a U.S. Air Force program active from 1952 to 1969 that investigated the nature and origin of UFOs. Ruppelt explains that out of approximately 800 historical cases reviewed by the Air Force, approximately 20% remained unexplained after technical analysis.
These unresolved reports were sourced from credible military personnel, commercial pilots and other qualified technical observers. He highlights geographic report concentrations around sensitive national security and nuclear weapons installations (including Los Alamos, Albuquerque, and Oak Ridge National Laboratories) and notes recurring anomalous characteristics, including silent high-speed flight and radar detections indicating unconfirmed air speeds between 1,000 and 3,500 miles per hour [around 1,600 to 5600 kph].
Emphasizing that the Air Force found no conclusive evidence regarding the nature or origin of the phenomena, Ruppelt underscores the national security need for a systematic physical data collection effort to better evaluate these sightings.
20% are ‘good reports’
Ruppelt’s basic conclusion, as stated:
We’ve gone through these reports and come up with the fact that about 20% are very good reports offered by very reliable people and are just absolutely no conclusions can be drawn.
And there’d been some chatter on social media that Ruppelt’s talk included the famous sightings of disks over Washington, D.C. in 1952. But those sightings didn’t happen until July 26, 1952, some months after the talk.
One of the primary documents is the Project Blue Book investigation of the famous Tremonton, Utah, video from July 2, 1952. The film shows a large group of small white objects flying in the blue sky.
The film has also been studied, analyzed and debated multiple times by others ever since, with no firm conclusions. The Project Blue Book study itself suggested sea birds as a likely explanation, however.
The famous Tremonton, Utah, film from July 2, 1952. A large group of small white objects can be seen moving in the blue sky. Video via DoD.
Defense Intelligence Reference Documents
This release also includes 37 “Defense Intelligence Reference Documents,” or DIRDs. They were produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP, 2008-2012) that dealt with fringe or futuristic topics like warp drives, wormholes, antigravity, negative mass propulsion and invisibility cloaking. All of them have already been publicly available for years. Some had been released through Freedom of Information Act releases by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). These “new” versions do include some details that had been previously withheld, though, such as the names of the agency offices that produced the documents.
One 38-page DIRD from 2010 analyzed what the report called:
… evidence of unintended injury to human observers by anomalous advanced aerospace systems.
One case was said to involve:
… three previous fit and active individuals experienced an anomalous [‘irregular, incongruous and inconsistent with their domain’] aerospace-related event.
The individuals were said to have:
… suffered a range of medical symptoms in the aftermath, including heat and redness on their skin and hair loss. One of the individuals showed ‘signs of radiation illness’ and ‘over several years developed signs of malignant transformations.’
6th page of one of the 38 Defense Intelligence Reference Documents (DIRDs) produced for the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) on March 30, 2010. This one covered research into antigravity. Image via DoD.
Legal waiver for government personnel on UAP
And in related news … on September 14, 2026, the U.S. government also announced a legal waiver that would allow current and former employees previously bound by nondisclosure agreements to share UAP-related information with the government’s PURSUE office.
As some have noted, the waiver is only for DOW/DoD employees, not people in the U.S. intelligence community. The press release states in part:
Under this directive, all current and former DOW service members, civilian personnel, and contractors holding or previously granted access to UAP-related National Defense Information (NDI) are authorized to disclose protected information directly to official PURSUE representatives. The waiver supersedes civil and administrative enforcement provisions contained within Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) and Special Access Program Indoctrination Agreements (SAPIAs) previously executed within the United States, strictly for communications directed to the PURSUE team.
This infrared video, submitted by United States Indo-Pacific Command, shows a small white UAP flying above clouds and the ocean in 2023. Video via DoD.
Bottom line: The 6th batch of the Pentagon UAP files has just been released. Read about a U.S. Air Force talk on UAP from 1952, see more videos and more.
Throughout late September and October evenings, the Great Square of Pegasus is ascending in the eastern evening sky. Then the Great Square will be high in the sky around the December solstice. And it’ll disappear from the evening sky sometime in February.
The Great Square is an asterism — an obvious pattern of stars — that consists of four stars of nearly equal brightness. Specifically, they are Scheat, Alpheratz, Markab and Algenib. The star Alpheratz is part of the constellation Andromeda and joins with three stars from Pegasus to form the Great Square.
The constellation Pegasus represents a Flying Horse. But the Great Square — the prominent asterism within Pegasus — is a landmark of the Northern Hemisphere’s autumn sky.
The Great Square of Pegasus consists of 4 stars of nearly equal brightness: Scheat, Alpheratz, Markab and Algenib. The Great Square is an asterism within the constellation Pegasus. But the star Alpheratz belongs to the constellation Andromeda.
To find the Great Square
To find the Great Square, use the Big Dipper to star-hop to Polaris, the North Star. Then draw an imaginary line from Polaris until you land on the outer star of the W or M-shaped constellation Cassiopeia the Queen.
Finally, a line from Cassiopeia faithfully escorts you to the Great Square of Pegasus.
Use the 2 stars at the end of the bowl in the Big Dipper to find Polaris. Then use Polaris to find Cassiopeia. From there you can find the Great Square of Pegasus. Chart via Stellarium. Used with permission. Animation by EarthSky.
Often, at events where many are stargazing for the first time, one may hear:
… the Great Square has nothing in it.
But, like all parts of the night sky, the Great Square isn’t really empty. It might look empty to you, because the stars inside the Great Square are so faint. The unaided eye can’t easily detect them. But, if you use binoculars or a small telescope you can easily see many stars within the Great Square.
Also, counting stars inside the Great Square is a good way to determine how dark your sky is when observing.
Under light-polluted city skies, you might see no stars inside.
Under average rural conditions, you might spot three to five stars.
Under pristine dark-sky conditions, you might count up to 30 or more stars inside the square,
1st discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a sunlike star
One of the most famous faint stars near the Great Square is 51 Pegasi. In 1995, astronomers announced in the journal Nature they’d discovered a planet around this star.
This exoplanet is now called 51 Pegasi b (informally Dimidium).
The astronomers who found 51 Pegasi b – Michel Mayor of the University of Geneva and Didier Queloz at the Cavendish Laboratory and Geneva University – received the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery.
Some books say that 51 Pegasi is visible with the unaided eye. But it’s a challenge. Using binoculars, look roughly halfway between Scheat and Markab in the Great Square of Pegasus. Note that you won’t be able to see any planets! Pegasus 51 is approximately 50 light-years away from Earth.
Learn the stars of Pegasus and where to find its deep-sky targets. Look near the center of this chart for 51 Pegasi. Chart via EarthSky.
Mythology of the Great Square of Pegasus
You might recall that Pegasus was a winged horse in Greek mythology. The constellation Pegasus is one of seven constellations in the autumn sky that explain why it’s never a good idea to claim a mortal’s beauty is greater than that of the gods. You’ll find this story plastered all over the autumn night sky, and Pegasus figures into it prominently.
The story goes that Cassiopeia the Queen bragged that she (or her daughter Andromeda the Princess) was more beautiful than the immortal Nereids, or sea nymphs. This angered the gods, who asked the sea-god Poseidon to take revenge. The punishment was that Cepheus the King and Cassiopeia had to sacrifice Andromeda to Cetus the Whale (sometimes called a sea monster). Andromeda was chained to a rock at sea. She was about to be gobbled up by Cetus, when she saw Perseus the Hero – riding Pegasus the Flying Horse – swooping toward her.
Perseus had a trick up his sleeve. He faced Cetus, holding up the head of the Gorgon Medusa. It’s said the sight of Medusa turned Cetus to stone. Then Perseus whacked the chains that bound Andromeda and freed her. And then, they rode off on Pegasus the Flying Horse and lived happily ever after. Later, Zeus placed all of them in the sky as stars, along with Delphinus the Dolphin, who’d provided comfort to Andromeda.
The Great Square of Pegasus makes up the eastern (left) half of the constellation Pegasus. Image via International Astronomical Union.
In 2026, Saturn and Fomalhaut are near the Great Square
Saturn and Fomalhaut are 2 of the brightest objects showing from this all-sky camera taken on August 20, 2026, from inside an observatory in Wyoming. They are below the Great Square of Pegasus. Image via WyoAstro allsky camera. Used with permission.
Bottom line: How to find the Great Square of Pegasus star pattern, and why it’s worth locating in the evening sky.
Throughout late September and October evenings, the Great Square of Pegasus is ascending in the eastern evening sky. Then the Great Square will be high in the sky around the December solstice. And it’ll disappear from the evening sky sometime in February.
The Great Square is an asterism — an obvious pattern of stars — that consists of four stars of nearly equal brightness. Specifically, they are Scheat, Alpheratz, Markab and Algenib. The star Alpheratz is part of the constellation Andromeda and joins with three stars from Pegasus to form the Great Square.
The constellation Pegasus represents a Flying Horse. But the Great Square — the prominent asterism within Pegasus — is a landmark of the Northern Hemisphere’s autumn sky.
The Great Square of Pegasus consists of 4 stars of nearly equal brightness: Scheat, Alpheratz, Markab and Algenib. The Great Square is an asterism within the constellation Pegasus. But the star Alpheratz belongs to the constellation Andromeda.
To find the Great Square
To find the Great Square, use the Big Dipper to star-hop to Polaris, the North Star. Then draw an imaginary line from Polaris until you land on the outer star of the W or M-shaped constellation Cassiopeia the Queen.
Finally, a line from Cassiopeia faithfully escorts you to the Great Square of Pegasus.
Use the 2 stars at the end of the bowl in the Big Dipper to find Polaris. Then use Polaris to find Cassiopeia. From there you can find the Great Square of Pegasus. Chart via Stellarium. Used with permission. Animation by EarthSky.
Often, at events where many are stargazing for the first time, one may hear:
… the Great Square has nothing in it.
But, like all parts of the night sky, the Great Square isn’t really empty. It might look empty to you, because the stars inside the Great Square are so faint. The unaided eye can’t easily detect them. But, if you use binoculars or a small telescope you can easily see many stars within the Great Square.
Also, counting stars inside the Great Square is a good way to determine how dark your sky is when observing.
Under light-polluted city skies, you might see no stars inside.
Under average rural conditions, you might spot three to five stars.
Under pristine dark-sky conditions, you might count up to 30 or more stars inside the square,
1st discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a sunlike star
One of the most famous faint stars near the Great Square is 51 Pegasi. In 1995, astronomers announced in the journal Nature they’d discovered a planet around this star.
This exoplanet is now called 51 Pegasi b (informally Dimidium).
The astronomers who found 51 Pegasi b – Michel Mayor of the University of Geneva and Didier Queloz at the Cavendish Laboratory and Geneva University – received the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery.
Some books say that 51 Pegasi is visible with the unaided eye. But it’s a challenge. Using binoculars, look roughly halfway between Scheat and Markab in the Great Square of Pegasus. Note that you won’t be able to see any planets! Pegasus 51 is approximately 50 light-years away from Earth.
Learn the stars of Pegasus and where to find its deep-sky targets. Look near the center of this chart for 51 Pegasi. Chart via EarthSky.
Mythology of the Great Square of Pegasus
You might recall that Pegasus was a winged horse in Greek mythology. The constellation Pegasus is one of seven constellations in the autumn sky that explain why it’s never a good idea to claim a mortal’s beauty is greater than that of the gods. You’ll find this story plastered all over the autumn night sky, and Pegasus figures into it prominently.
The story goes that Cassiopeia the Queen bragged that she (or her daughter Andromeda the Princess) was more beautiful than the immortal Nereids, or sea nymphs. This angered the gods, who asked the sea-god Poseidon to take revenge. The punishment was that Cepheus the King and Cassiopeia had to sacrifice Andromeda to Cetus the Whale (sometimes called a sea monster). Andromeda was chained to a rock at sea. She was about to be gobbled up by Cetus, when she saw Perseus the Hero – riding Pegasus the Flying Horse – swooping toward her.
Perseus had a trick up his sleeve. He faced Cetus, holding up the head of the Gorgon Medusa. It’s said the sight of Medusa turned Cetus to stone. Then Perseus whacked the chains that bound Andromeda and freed her. And then, they rode off on Pegasus the Flying Horse and lived happily ever after. Later, Zeus placed all of them in the sky as stars, along with Delphinus the Dolphin, who’d provided comfort to Andromeda.
The Great Square of Pegasus makes up the eastern (left) half of the constellation Pegasus. Image via International Astronomical Union.
In 2026, Saturn and Fomalhaut are near the Great Square
Saturn and Fomalhaut are 2 of the brightest objects showing from this all-sky camera taken on August 20, 2026, from inside an observatory in Wyoming. They are below the Great Square of Pegasus. Image via WyoAstro allsky camera. Used with permission.
Bottom line: How to find the Great Square of Pegasus star pattern, and why it’s worth locating in the evening sky.
Where does the celestial equator intersect your horizon? ALWAYS at points due east and due west. And the equinox sun is on the celestial equator. That’s why the equinox sun rises due east and due west. Image via Physics.csbsju.edu.
This year’s September equinox will fall at 00:05 UTC on September 23, 2026. That’s 19:05 p.m. CDT on September 22.
The equinox sun rises due east and sets due west
The sun rises due east and sets due west at the equinox. It might seem counterintuitive. But it’s true no matter where you live on Earth (except at the North and South Poles). Here’s how to visualize it.
To understand the nearly due-east and due-west rising and setting of an equinox sun, you have to think of the reality of Earth in space. First think about why the sun’s path across our sky shifts from season to season. That’s because our world is tilted on its axis with respect to its orbit around the sun.
Now think about what an equinox is. It’s a milestone in Earth’s orbit around the sun. And it’s also an event that happens on the imaginary dome of Earth’s sky. It marks that special moment when the sun crosses the celestial equator — an imaginary line your sky, directly above Earth’s equator. In the case of the September equinox, the sun is moving from north to south, bringing spring and summer to the Southern Hemisphere and fall and winter to the Northern Hemisphere.
It’s an imaginary line, yet what happens at every equinox is very real. It’s as real as the sun’s passage across your sky each day, and as real as the change of seasons.
Our seasons result from the Earth’s spin axis tilting 23.5 degrees out of the perpendicular to the ecliptic, or Earth’s orbital plane. Image via National Weather Service/ weather.gov.
It’s the same all over the globe
So no matter where you are on Earth (except for the North and South Poles), you have a due east and due west point on your horizon. That point marks the intersection of your horizon with the celestial equator, the imaginary great circle above the true equator of Earth.
And that’s why the sun rises close to due east and sets close to due west, for all of us, at the equinox. The equinox sun is on the celestial equator. Which means, no matter where you are on Earth, the celestial equator intersects your horizon at due east and due west.
This fact makes the day of an equinox a good day for finding east and west from your yard or favorite site for watching the sky. Just go outside around sunset or sunrise and notice the location of the sun on the horizon with respect to familiar landmarks.
If you do this, you’ll be able to use those landmarks to find those cardinal directions in the weeks and months ahead. Plus, you’ll know those directions long after Earth has moved on in its orbit around the sun.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | How fast is daytime growing around the equinox? Rupesh Sangoi in Mumbai, India, captured separate images of the sunrise, showing the sun’s movement along the horizon, between the June and December solstices and on the equinoxes. Rupesh wrote: “Did this for over a year, at sunrise.” Glorious composite, Rupesh! Thank you.
Bottom line: The 2026 September equinox occurs at 00:05 UTC on September 23, 2026. That’s 19:05 p.m. CDT on September 22. And the equinox sun rises and sets due east and due west.
Where does the celestial equator intersect your horizon? ALWAYS at points due east and due west. And the equinox sun is on the celestial equator. That’s why the equinox sun rises due east and due west. Image via Physics.csbsju.edu.
This year’s September equinox will fall at 00:05 UTC on September 23, 2026. That’s 19:05 p.m. CDT on September 22.
The equinox sun rises due east and sets due west
The sun rises due east and sets due west at the equinox. It might seem counterintuitive. But it’s true no matter where you live on Earth (except at the North and South Poles). Here’s how to visualize it.
To understand the nearly due-east and due-west rising and setting of an equinox sun, you have to think of the reality of Earth in space. First think about why the sun’s path across our sky shifts from season to season. That’s because our world is tilted on its axis with respect to its orbit around the sun.
Now think about what an equinox is. It’s a milestone in Earth’s orbit around the sun. And it’s also an event that happens on the imaginary dome of Earth’s sky. It marks that special moment when the sun crosses the celestial equator — an imaginary line your sky, directly above Earth’s equator. In the case of the September equinox, the sun is moving from north to south, bringing spring and summer to the Southern Hemisphere and fall and winter to the Northern Hemisphere.
It’s an imaginary line, yet what happens at every equinox is very real. It’s as real as the sun’s passage across your sky each day, and as real as the change of seasons.
Our seasons result from the Earth’s spin axis tilting 23.5 degrees out of the perpendicular to the ecliptic, or Earth’s orbital plane. Image via National Weather Service/ weather.gov.
It’s the same all over the globe
So no matter where you are on Earth (except for the North and South Poles), you have a due east and due west point on your horizon. That point marks the intersection of your horizon with the celestial equator, the imaginary great circle above the true equator of Earth.
And that’s why the sun rises close to due east and sets close to due west, for all of us, at the equinox. The equinox sun is on the celestial equator. Which means, no matter where you are on Earth, the celestial equator intersects your horizon at due east and due west.
This fact makes the day of an equinox a good day for finding east and west from your yard or favorite site for watching the sky. Just go outside around sunset or sunrise and notice the location of the sun on the horizon with respect to familiar landmarks.
If you do this, you’ll be able to use those landmarks to find those cardinal directions in the weeks and months ahead. Plus, you’ll know those directions long after Earth has moved on in its orbit around the sun.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | How fast is daytime growing around the equinox? Rupesh Sangoi in Mumbai, India, captured separate images of the sunrise, showing the sun’s movement along the horizon, between the June and December solstices and on the equinoxes. Rupesh wrote: “Did this for over a year, at sunrise.” Glorious composite, Rupesh! Thank you.
Bottom line: The 2026 September equinox occurs at 00:05 UTC on September 23, 2026. That’s 19:05 p.m. CDT on September 22. And the equinox sun rises and sets due east and due west.
