                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2019 December 21

                  Solstice to Solstice Solargraph Timelapse
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Sam Cornwell

   Explanation: The 2019 December Solstice, on the first day of winter in
   planet Earth's northern hemisphere and summer in the south, is at 4:19
   Universal Time December 22. That's December 21 for North America,
   though. Celebrate with a timelapse animation of the Sun's seasonal
   progression through the sky. It was made with solargraph images from an
   ingenious array of 27 pinhole cameras. The first frame from the
   Solarcan camera matrix was recorded near December 21, 2018. The last
   frame in the series finished near June 21, 2019, the northern summer
   solstice. All 27 camera exposures were started at the same time, with a
   camera covered and removed from the array once a week. Viewed
   consecutively the pinhole camera pictures accumulate the traces of the
   Sun's daily path from winter (bottom) to summer (top) solstice. Traces
   of the Sun's path are reflected by the foreground Williestruther Loch,
   in the Scottish Borders. Just select the image or follow this link to
   play the entire 27 frame (gif) timelapse.

                      Tomorrow's picture: a year of sky
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