Starship Asterisk*

High Noon Analemma Over Azerbaijan

Explanation: Is the Sun always straight up at noontime? No. For example, the Sun never appears directly overhead from locations well north or south of the Earth's equator. Conversely, there is always a place on Earth where the Sun will appear at zenith at noon -- for example on the equator during an equinox. Turning the problem around, however, as in finding where the Sun actually appears to be at high noon, is as easy as waiting for midday, pointing your camera up, and taking a picture. If you do this often enough, you find that as the days march by, the Sun slowly traces out a figure eight on the sky. Pictured above is one such high noon analemma -- a series of pictures always taken at exactly noontime over the course of a year. The above fisheye image, accumulated mostly during 2012, also shows some buildings and trees of Baku, Azerbaijan around the edges.

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Ah, another string of pearls. This time, imported.

http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/la ... _testament

I really love the shape of the analemma for some reason, don't know why. Thank you Tunç Tezel for all the effort an image like this takes.

FloridaMike wrote:I really love the shape of the analemma for some reason, don't know why.

Reminds you of infinity, perhaps? (That's why I like it.)

After spending several years attempting this ourselves, we appreciate the effort put into an image like this! Thank you.

LocalColor wrote:After spending several years attempting this ourselves, we appreciate the effort put into an image like this! Thank you.

Several years attempting to record infinity? I agree with Buzz Lightyear that we should get Beyond involved with the problem presented with infinity.

BillBixby wrote:

LocalColor wrote:After spending several years attempting this ourselves, we appreciate the effort put into an image like this! Thank you.

Several years attempting to record infinity? I agree with Buzz Lightyear that we should get Beyond involved with the problem presented with infinity.

Beyond says... that sort of thinking troubles me to no end.

APOD Robot wrote:... Turning the problem around, however, as in finding where the Sun actually appears to be at high noon, is as easy as waiting for midday, pointing your camera up, and taking a picture. If you do this often enough, you find that as the days march by, the Sun slowly traces out a figure eight on the sky. Pictured above is one such high noon analemma -- a series of pictures always taken at exactly noontime over the course of a year. ...

One quibble: You're conflating two different kinds of "noon". When I read "high noon" I think of apparent solar noon. To get this picture of the analemma the pictures were taken at mean solar noon. If the pictures were all taken at high noon, the line of Suns would be straight up and down, and much less interesting.

Where are the trees?

It looks like shipyard cranes are serving as the trees...

I think the text is a little misleading in this entry. In the text they say, "For example, the Sun never appears directly overhead from locations well north or south of the Earth's equator." However the sun is directly overhead at the Tropic of Capricorn on December 21. I would say that the Tropic of Capricorn, which is 2,630 km away from the equator is indeed well south of the Earth's equator.

Comments?

Jack42 wrote:
I think the text is a little misleading in this entry. In the text they say, "For example, the Sun never appears directly overhead from locations well north or south of the Earth's equator." However the sun is directly overhead at the Tropic of Capricorn on December 21. I would say that the Tropic of Capricorn, which is 2,630 km away from the equator is indeed well south of the Earth's equator.

Well... I disagree, Jack.

• • Synonyms
  
  Well: comfortably, considerably, easily, substantially...
  
  Somewhat: fairly, moderately, passably, reasonably, slightly...

The Tropic of Capricorn, is somewhat south of the Earth's equator.

Jack42 wrote:I think the text is a little misleading in this entry. In the text they say, "For example, the Sun never appears directly overhead from locations well north or south of the Earth's equator." However the sun is directly overhead at the Tropic of Capricorn on December 21. I would say that the Tropic of Capricorn, which is 2,630 km away from the equator is indeed well south of the Earth's equator.

Comments?

I agree with neufer (on this matter at least). If the Sun is directly above you, then you are in the Tropics and it can get hot enough to affect your judgement and make you think you are further away from the Equator than you really are.