Equatorial time

I have been on a plane for 20 out of the last 24 hours, traveling from Pune to Delhi to New York. For most of this time I have been watching the map tracking the progress of my flight.

During this time of the year, the northern hemisphere has long days and short nights. Conversely of course in December, the northern hemisphere will have short days and long nights. Those of us who live in the tropics do not see the days and nights change by too much.

Here is a question I have been pondering over for a large part of my transit time. For people who live exactly on the equator, would the days and nights be exactly 12 hours each throughout the year?

I think I have arrived at an answer - and the reasoning - but I will post that in a couple of days.

(The cities closest to the equator I can think of are Singapore or Nairobi, even though these places are not EXACTLY on the equator - they are about 1 degree North or South)