Fall's Movers and Shakers 🧳
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Season 2: Episode 9 Description
In today’s episode: 🍂 The Autumnal Equinox is here. Find out what it is and why it is the start of the Fall. 🗓️ Animals start their migrations this year and the monarch butterfly is one of them. 🧳 Hear from Nature Nerds' Laine Farber about this butterfly on the move. 🗞️ In the news: Spacewalks and tennis superstars! 🎾 And test your Harvest Moon knowledge in today's Trivia on the Ten. ✅
Sources for the episode:
https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/equinox/603040
https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/harvest-moon-2/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEXhI8VQ9W4
https://monarchjointventure.org/monarch-biology/monarch-migration
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TRANSCRIPT:
Bethany Van Delft 0:06
From shorter days to massive migrations, what happens when the sun aligns with the equator? Today we'll find out what's up with the Autumnal Equinox. And hint, it's a lot more than pumpkin spice season. I'm Bethany Van Delft. It's September 21st. And this is The Ten News.
Various Voices 0:28
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Bethany Van Delft 0:35
If you set an alarm for 3:20 pm Eastern Time tomorrow, September 22, 2021, you'll know the precise moment the Autumnal Equinox arrives.
Sound Bit 0:47
It's coming, it's coming right for us. It's already here.
Bethany Van Delft 0:51
The autumnal equinox also called the September Equinox or Fall Equinox is the official beginning of fall in the Northern Hemisphere and spring in the southern hemisphere. It's the moment when the sun is lined up with the equator, the imaginary line that runs around the center of the earth and divides the northern and southern hemispheres. The word Equinox comes from Latin words “aequis,” which means equal, and “nox” meaning night. During the equinox, the day and night are almost equal in length. Cool. After the equinox that starts to change, as the day started having less and less sunlight here in the Northern Hemisphere, up until December Solstice on December 21st. Hopefully, no grownups listening will use this as an excuse for an earlier bedtime. Seeing birds in the air is a common sight this time of year as many species start migrating toward cooler weather. But did you know that butterflies also make an annual trek? Laine Farber from the Nature Nerds Podcast is here to tell us about some monarchs on the move.
Laine Farber 2:14
It's a bird. It's a plane. It's billions of butterflies? That's right, y'all. If you look to the sky this fall, you might be in for an extra special sight. No, it's not Superman. It's something even better, a giant swarm of butterflies. Not convinced butterflies are cooler than Superman? Well, you must not know about the monarch. Known for its distinctive orange and black markings. The monarch is a species of butterfly native to North and South America. Now, monarchs are beautiful bugs, but it's not their cool colors that make them remarkable. It's their thirst for travel. Each year, millions of jet-setting monarchs take to the sky as part of an annual migration. Migration is the scientific term for the seasonal movement of animals. Not all animals migrate. But, those that do travel long distances so that they can find food, warm weather, and good shelter. Every fall, millions of monarchs leave their summer breeding grounds in the northern United States and fly south to avoid cold winter weather. As summer draws to an end, monarchs sense a change in the weather and fly south to Southern California, Florida, or special mountain ranges in Mexico. The butterflies will perch in trees and hibernate until spring arrives. Then they begin their journey back north. The monarch migration is the journey of a lifetime. Well, for lifetimes, technically speaking, you see, butterflies have very short lifespans. Most monarchs only live two to six weeks. Those that hibernate can live a few months longer, but it's still not enough time to complete their trip. Oh, man. Their little wings just can't take them the full 3,000 miles. So, they set up a relay to cover the distance. As a monarch nears the end of its life, it realizes it's time to pass the baton. The monarch ends its leg of the race by laying eggs. Eventually, the eggs hatch, and Monarch caterpillars emerge. Once they go through metamorphosis, the butterflies soar through the sky until it's time for them to pass the baton to their babies. This process repeats itself until the monarchs reach the home of their great grandparents. Honey, I'm home. Now, scientists have studied monarch migration since the 1940s. yet they're still puzzled by this unique multi-generational migration. They understand the who, what, where, when, and why? The only question that still bugs them is how? How do monarchs know how to get to places they've never seen before? Some scientists theorize that monarchs navigate by looking at the stars, Sun and Moon. Others think that they can sense the earth's magnetic poles. And some believe that knowing the way is just in their DNA, like genetic shared memory. Maybe it's one of these theories, or maybe all of the monarchs have teeny tiny GPS's.
Bethany Van Delft 5:40
Thanks, Laine. I think I'm gonna hitch a ride with some monarchs. Now, let's see what else is going on.
Bethany Van Delft 6:01
Many people are anxious to know when children under the age of 12 will be eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine in the US. We might be getting close. Last week, Pfizer announced plans to seek emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration to administer its COVID-19 vaccine to children ages five to eleven as soon as October. That's incredible. That's sooner than last reported and as we've learned with this whole pandemic, things can change. We'll keep you updated as we learn more. Recently, two astronauts at the International Space Station, Thomas Pesquet, head of the European Space Agency, and Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency conducted a spacewalk that lasted almost seven hours. The astronauts completed several tasks that are part of a larger plan to give the space station's power system a big upgrade. The Eagle has landed. And in case you missed it, teenagers are taking the world of tennis by storm. For the first time since 1999, the women's Grand Slam final at the US Open featured two teenagers. 19-year-old Layla Fernandez of Canada, and 18-year-old Emma Raducanu of Britain. Raducanu claimed the US Open title without dropping a set. Something no woman had accomplished since Serena Williams did it in 2014. Looks like some pretty exciting times ahead for the sport of tennis.
Bethany Van Delft 7:51
Up next, It's time for...
Various Voices 7:54
What, what, what's the big idea?
Bethany Van Delft 7:57
Trivia on The Ten. The Harvest Moon is the name for the first full moon closest to the autumnal equinox. This year it was on September 20th. Sometimes the Harvest Moon is called an orange moon. Why does it have this unique color? Is it a) because the sun is closer to it and sharing some of its color, b) because of the moon's position on the horizon or c) because of a special moon dust that appears during this time of year?
Bethany Van Delft 8:34
Did you guess it? The answer is B. The harvest moon looks orange due to its position in the sky. Your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. It's just that since the moon is close to the horizon, you're seeing it through a very thick part of the Earth's atmosphere. And that causes the orange tint. It absorbs the blue light and shows us the red. How artsy, you, moon!
Bethany Van Delft 9:07
Times up. But, before we go, here's a quick note for the grownups. Thanks for listening to The Ten News. Look out for new episodes on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and extras on Saturdays. You can go deeper into today's stories by visiting thetennews.com The Ten News is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts and is distributed by iHeartRadio. The Ten News creative team is pushing for a later bedtime and includes Tracey Crooks, Pete Musto, Andrew Hall, and Nathalie Alonso. Laine Farber contributed to this episode. Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle, and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan. I'm Bethany Van Delft, and thanks for listening to The Ten News. Go enjoy some daylight.
