                        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.

                              2023 December 22

                             183 Days in the Sun
                 Image Credit & Copyright: José Zarcos Palma

   Explanation: A single 183 day exposure with a pinhole camera and
   photographic paper resulted in this long-duration solargraph. Recorded
   from solstice to solstice, June 21 to December 21, in 2022, it follows
   the Sun's daily arcing path through planet Earth's skies from Mertola,
   Portugal. On June 21, the Sun's highest point and longest arc
   represents the longest day and the astronomical beginning of summer in
   the northern hemisphere. The solstice date with the fewest hours of
   daylight is at the beginning of winter in the north, corresponding to
   the Sun's shortest and lowest arc in the 2022 solargraph. For 2023, the
   northern winter solstice was on December 22 at 3:27 UTC. That's
   December 21 for North America time zones.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

