A Solstice Sun Tattoo
Image Credit &
Copyright:
Marcella Pace
The word
solstice is from the Latin for Sun and to pause or stand still.
And in the days surrounding a solstice the Sun's annual
north-south drift in planet Earth's sky
does slow down, pause, and then reverse direction.
So near the solstice the daily path of the Sun through the sky
really doesn't change much.
In fact, near the
December solstice,
the Sun's consistent, low arc through northern hemisphere skies,
along with low surface temperatures, has left a noticeable
imprint on this path to the mountain town of Peaio in northern Italy.
The morning frost on the road has melted away only where the sunlight
was able to reach the ground.
But it remains in the areas
persistently shadowed by the fence,
tattooing in frost
an image of the fence on the asphalt surface.