March equinox equinox. This is most notable at the more extreme latitudes, where the Sun may be seen to travel sideways considerably during the dawn and evening, drawing out the transition from day to night. At the north and south poles, the Sun appears to move steadily around the horizon, and just above the horizon, neither rising nor setting apart from a slight change in declination of about 0.39° per day as the equinox passes. The Babylonian calendar began with the first full moon after the vernal equinox, the day after the Sumerian goddess Inanna's return from the underworld (later known as
Splitting of the moon describes an actual event at the time of the Prophet, but it clearly refers to the end of the world. Some Muslim scholars argue that an astronomical event must have happened at that time, which made it appear as if the moon had been split in two, because the phenomenon was seen at least in India as well. One such possible lunar event could be a large asteroid hitting the moon, and the plume and debris from the strike blocking enough lunar view to make it appear as if the Moon had split in two. A second possibility could be