December 4, 2024
Even the most precise clock in the world cannot measure how unlikely your existence really is.
Driveway Analemma
Birthday · December 4, 2024
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published December 4, 2024 · Video still. Credit: Nick Wright. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Does the Sun return to the same spot on the sky every day? No. A more visual answer is an analemma, a composite of sky images taken at the same time and from the same place over a year. At completion, you can see that the Sun makes a figure 8 on the sky. The featured unusual analemma does not, however, picture the Sun directly: it was created by looking in the opposite direction. All that was required was noting where the shadow of an edge of a house was in the driveway every clear day at the same time. Starting in March in Falcon, Colorado, USA, the photographer methodically marked the shadow's 1 pm location. In one frame you can even see the photographer himself. Although this analemma will be completed in 2025, you can start drawing your own driveway analemma -- using no fancy equipment -- as soon as today.
Image credit: Nick Wright