On the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, known as the vernal equinox, the sun rises directly over the celestial equator, which is an imaginary great circle above Earth's equator. This means the sun appears to rise exactly due east and sets due west for almost all locations on Earth except at the poles. At this time, the sun crosses the celestial equator moving northward, marking the start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere
. More specifically, the sun's rays are directly overhead at the equator at noon on the equinox day
. This alignment happens because Earth's tilted axis is oriented so that neither hemisphere is tilted toward or away from the sun, resulting in nearly equal day and night lengths globally
. In summary, on the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, the sun rises directly over the Earth's equator (the celestial equator above it), crossing from south to north
