December 23, 2009
The story of your birthday began billions of years before calendars existed, in furnaces of light and clouds of dust.
December Sunrise, Cape Sounion
Birthday · December 23, 2009
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published December 23, 2009. Credit: Anthony Ayiomamitis. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
The Sun is a moving target. Its annual motion through planet Earth's sky tracks north and south, from solstice to solstice, as the seasons change. On December 21st, the solstice marking the first day of winter in the northern hemisphere and summer in the south, the Sun rose at its southernmost point along the eastern horizon. Earlier this month, looking toward the Aegean Sea from a well-chosen vantage point at Cape Sounion, Greece, it also rose in this dramatic scene. In the foreground lies the twenty-four hundred year old Temple of Poseidon.
Image credit: Anthony Ayiomamitis