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[Pic] The Path Taken By The Sun Spread Out Over A Year

antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov — If you took a picture of the Sun at the same time each day, would it remain in the same position? The answer is no, and the shape traced out by the Sun over the course of a year is called an analemma. Here's a picture of it take over the course of a year.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 14, 2007

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  • Jwoey, on 10/11/2007, -11/+162I don't know about you... but I don't read every new article at every website. I don't subscribe to every magazine and I don't watch every television program. If an interesting article flies under my radar, I don't have a problem with someone pointing it out to me, even if it's a little old.

    Just because a picture wasn't taken today doesn't mean it isn't worth looking at.
  • kablammo, on 10/11/2007, -4/+89...the path taken by the earth...
  • troymcdavis, on 10/11/2007, -29/+112FTA: 2002 July 9

    Digg makes old things NEW again!
  • kosmoX, on 10/11/2007, -3/+65Blasphemy!
  • xerus, on 10/11/2007, -0/+46I remember when this was posted, and the same Anal Emma comments were made... http://www.digg.com/space/PICTURE_The_Sun_s_Path_Over_a_Year
  • nimawin, on 10/11/2007, -3/+39same thing happens to the moon.. and the shape of the trail changes depending on what hemisphere or what part of it you are on...
  • n0xz, on 10/11/2007, -2/+28Anyone noticed how the path looks like an Infinity symbol ? There is order in chaos !
  • Disjunto, on 10/11/2007, -1/+25i like how the submitter purposely put a ? on the end of the URL so it didn't get caught as a dupe :P
  • phy6uva, on 10/11/2007, -8/+32apparently... not knowing and/or having seen every single thing on the internet makes me less cool than others. I will have to work on this. Anyone have an extra case of Rockstar?
  • kakwakas, on 10/11/2007, -4/+23If you want to get all technical, it's the path of the earth in conjunction with the path of the sun.
  • MadScientist420, on 10/11/2007, -6/+23It's one thing to complain about news stories that are several years old but something like this is timeless and just because the article was written a while ago doesn't mean it doesn't apply today. Go troll somewhere else.
  • Scheissen, on 10/11/2007, -0/+16dupe
    =
    bury
  • Iolite, on 10/11/2007, -4/+19I was doing other things in 2002. I'm glad this is back on here.
  • grooviekenn, on 10/11/2007, -5/+20It's always great to see pictures like this to remind me that I live on such a beautiful planet...

    (i know that's cheezy, but it's true!)
  • OsiVert, on 10/11/2007, -2/+14The one thing that I don't like is the description on the page is a little misleading. If you took a composite picture of the sun each day then you would come out with a solid figure 8, not dotted like in the picture. Those pictures were taken every 10 days or so.
  • phy6uva, on 10/11/2007, -2/+13ummm - technically... relative to the earth, the sun does not have a path (assuming a celestial point of reference). Relative to observers on the earth's surface the sun has an apparent path across the sky.
  • nemojonze, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8Well, since the entire universe is expanding...the sun actually DOES have a path...it's just relative to our own expansion, and orbit.
  • SonnyBono, on 10/11/2007, -3/+10how is that a composite of a picture taken everyday for a year. Wouldn't there be 365 suns?
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8Im in ur sky, heating up ur globe.
  • UglyShirts, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7This comes as no shock to anyone who's seen "Cast Away". The diagram Tom Hanks drew on the wall of the cave to tell the time of year was in this shape.

    Still, very interesting.
  • dreadstar, on 10/11/2007, -1/+8I feel like an educated individual by knowing what the picture would look like before even clicking it.
  • thpntofsngUlrty, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7APOTD is a damn awesome page.
  • Jwoey, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7Someone said that already.
  • thpntofsngUlrty, on 10/11/2007, -2/+8@sonnybono
    If they would have compiled a composite for 365 days it would look kind of ridiculous.
  • JorgeGT, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Actually four, isn't it? It's a year of time!
  • rhabd0mancer, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5We need to put some new material into the tubes.
  • ARob, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6Cool picture, but why does NASA's website look like it was made by a color-blind 12 year old??? Maybe they need more money...
  • thcobbs, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Until you can move in a negative direction with time, I don't consider it an "degree of freedom" axis.
  • xerus, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5Every day is repost day.
  • janemcopland, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3As long as it's the same time of day in each shot, that doesn't really matter, does it?
  • phy6uva, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3The intersection would be the equinoxes. The high and low points are the solstices.

    Interestingly the shape reveals the location. On the equator, the two loops would be equal sized and in the southern hemisphere, the lower loop would be the smaller one.

    This is an awesome photo! 5 days, 5 weeks or 5 years old, the beauty and elegance of science is worth sharing.
  • Brss45, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3anyone know what time of year the intersection was taken? i'm thinking the solstices or something..

    (that is, the point where the path intersects itself, 8
    god, i can't make a greater-than sign. here--->8
  • BlackCow, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3"it has been created by an employee."

    Oh no worse then a color blind 12 year old... and engineer!
  • kenadak, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2This whole article sounds like a middle schoolers science project. When I read the description of the article I thought Digg users aren't that ignorant, are they? Our 24 hour clock doesn't work well when compared to celestial motion. So, for example: if you took the picture at 50% of daylight left from the equator the image would be a vertical line (if my geometry is correct, I'm sure an astronomer would like to explain the error of my thinking) as the relation of the sun to the earth ... how does some spiffy word to describe a shape that is based on an artificial measurement help understanding of the universe? Also, does the photographer observe daylight savings time? if he did, and that was an important change in the position of the earth relative to the sun, does that make the image more or less useful since the United States recently changed the dates for this daylight conserving fallacy (more rant fodder I wont pursue.)

    /or am I just ignorant.

  • dardenne, on 07/17/2009, -0/+2woah.. that's like, ultimate proof that the universe is infinite.

    not really.
  • vanebeard, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3looks like a mobius strip to me
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2The symmetry of it is pretty sweet.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4
    This is infinity!


  • janemcopland, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3Probably for the same reason that most pages that end in .edu are crap. It's not NASA's homepage, afterall - it has been created by an employee.
  • Wendigo6x3, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2whoa, my astronomy professor used this in a lecture. cool find.
  • pardonmedoug, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Thank you so much for clarifying your position on that issue.
  • badulescub, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I was expecting a continuous curve not a dotted one. Never the less It's worth it !
  • Javi, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3If a bowling pin looks like infinity to you...
  • fmorel90, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2That's a really nice picture..

    I wish i had seen it a few months ago for my science class
    We were supposed to teach ourselves....it didn't work very well with some people...everyone was always panicking (more than usual) about what would be on the tests


    just found a few from the Wikipedia article...and this one is one Mars
    http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061230.html
  • grooviekenn, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I remember reading this exact same comment over and over again complaining about how this article is an old Digg...

    Duplicate comments complaining about duplicate Diggs.... What the duplicated heck heck is going on here here.
  • pardonmedoug, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I've posted this before, too

    Wait, was that a UFO backfiring or did I just BLOW YOUR ***** MIND?
  • DrummerAndrew, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2For all those commenting on this being a repost... if you don't dig it, don't Digg it. That's all.
  • DrummerAndrew, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Relativity allows that the 'path taken by the sun' is a viable phrase considering your viewpoint remains the same. This is the path of the sun through the sky, as seen from earth. The path of the sun is a MUCH larger path moving through our galaxy, and the galaxy moving through the universe. Just because the earth revolves around the sun does not mean that the sun doesn't move.
  • AyoRayRay, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3I remember seeing this on Digg quite recently.
    What the heck, a duplicate here and there is ok.
  • Ricky8765, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Not only would it not be in the same spot each day, but it would be in a different position on that same day each year, not just different days in one year
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