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A moon analemma follows the path of the moon over the course of a lunar month. Read how to create a moon analemma here.
This EarthSky community member in Hong Kong this lunar analemma, a figure-8 shape in the sky, created by capturing the moon's image each day at the same time.
An analemma is a figure-8 curve showing the position of the sun at a chosen time of day (often, noon) over a year. Here's one on the side of a house.
If you could record the position of the sun in the sky at the same time every day for a year, you'd record this figure-8 path, called an analemma.
If you photographed the sun at the same time each day - subtracting an hour as needed for Daylight Saving Time - the resulting figure-8 would be an analemma.
The longest days accompany the winter solstice. In December, a day - a whole cycle of day and night - is about half a minute longer than the average 24 hours.
November 3 brings the year's earliest solar noon - that is, earliest midday - by nature's clock. It's a harbinger of the Northern Hemisphere's earliest sunset.
The September equinox is here! Autumn for the Northern Hemisphere. Spring for the Southern Hemisphere. Here's all you need to know.
February 11 has 2023's latest solar noon by the clock. Solar noon is a natural event, the instant when the sun is at its highest point for the day.
Personal solstices - photos from the EarthSky community around the world - showing what the December solstice means to them.
For the southernmost US and similar latitudes, the earliest sunsets of the year are happening now. Your earliest sunset depends on your latitude, but always comes before the winter solstice.
In the jargon of astronomers, the sun is said to make an upper meridian transit when it reaches its highest point for the day at solar noon (midday).
Here's what happens if you take a photo of the sun each day at sunset, for several days in a row. You can see the sun's northward motion along your horizon.