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Birthday · January 2, 2025

Solar Analemma 2024

January 2, 2025

Your birthday is not just a date on a calendar. It is the yearly return of a moment when the universe became more observant, more feeling,...

Solar Analemma 2024

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APOD published January 2, 2025. Credit: Betul Turksoy. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.

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Solar Analemma 2024

Original APOD · January 2, 2025

Recorded during 2024, this year-spanning series of images reveals a pattern in the seasonal drift of the Sun's daily motion through planet Earth's sky. Known to some as an analemma, the figure-eight curve was captured in exposures taken only at 1pm local time on clear days from Kayseri, Turkiye. Of course the Sun's position on the 2024 solstice dates was at the top and bottom of the curve. They correspond to the astronomical beginning of summer and winter in the north. The points along the curve half-way between the solstices, but not the figure-eight curve crossing point, mark the 2024 equinoxes and the start of spring and fall. Regional peaks and dormant volcano Mount Erciyes lie along the southern horizon in the 2024 timelapse skyscape.

Image credit: Betul Turksoy

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