Seasons in Australia, why don’t they follow the astronomical definition?


One of my favourites stories in my blog is “Seasons: Astronomy vs. Australia” that I published exactly 8 years ago, on the 1st September 2014. In this post I described how seasons are defined using Astronomy using equinoxes and solstices. And that I was very surprised to see that in Australia that is not what people think.

Indeed, you have probably heard me complaining for years about how Australia and New Zealand use the meteorological definition of season instead of using the astronomical definition, that is the one that is followed almost in the rest of the world.

Last week I raised the issue during a meeting at the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Macquarie University (MQ). And with that Angie Kelly, Editor of MQ’s The Lighthouse, put me in contact with science journalist Fran Molloy to prepare this article: “Think spring has officially sprung? Not so fast“, published yesterday, Aug 31st,

One of my favourites stories in my blog is “Seasons: Astronomy vs. Australia” that I published exactly 8 years ago, on the 1st September 2014. In this post I described how seasons are defined using Astronomy using equinoxes and solstices. And that I was very surprised to see that in Australia that is not what people think.

Indeed, you have probably heard me complaining for years about how Australia and New Zealand use the meteorological definition of season instead of using the astronomical definition, that is the one that is followed almost in the rest of the world.

Last week I raised the issue during a meeting at the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Macquarie University (MQ). And with that Angie Kelly, Editor of MQ’s The Lighthouse, put me in contact with science journalist Fran Molloy to prepare this article: “Think spring has officially sprung? Not so fast“, published yesterday, Aug 31st,

Update on 23 September: It was… interesting to get this interview out, as it triggered 5 or 6 radio interviews across Australia, the last one this very morning at radio ABC South Australia 🙂

Post originally published in Ángel R. López-Sánchez blog.


Angel.Lopez-Sanchez

About Angel.Lopez-Sanchez

A/Prof Ángel R. López-Sánchez is an astrophysicist and science communicator working at the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Macquarie University (MQ). He is a recognised expert in the study of how the gas is converted into stars in galaxies and how this affects galaxy evolution. He graduated in Theoretical Physics at the University of Granada (2000) and completed his PhD Thesis in Astrophysics at the prestigious “Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias” (IAC, Spain) and the University of La Laguna (Spain) in 2006. He moved to Australia in 2007, joining CSIRO “Astronomy and Space Science” to perform radio-interferometric observations of gas-rich galaxies at the Australian Telescope Compact Array. In 2011 he joined the Australian Astronomical Observatory and Macquarie University combining instrumentation support, research, lecturing, and outreach. He was appointed as a full-time research academic at the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at Macquarie University in May 2023. He is the president of the association of Spanish Researchers in Australia-Pacific (SRAP), the vice-president of the Astronomical Association of Córdoba (AAC, Spain), representative in the Andalusian Astronomy Network (RAdA), and member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the Spanish Astronomy Society (SEA), and the Australian Astronomy Society (ASA). He is a globally-recognised science communicator, with visibility in Spanish and Australian printed, broadcast, and social media. He is also a passionate amateur astronomer that uses his own equipment for capturing the beauty of the Cosmos. His stunning astronomy time-lapse videos and photos have received +1/2 million views in YouTube and have been seen in TV channels in USA, Australia and Spain, science museums worldwide, and textbooks.