Analemma Over the Porch of Maidens
			
		
		
		
			If you took a picture of the Sun at the same time each day, 
would it remain in the same position?  
The answer is no, and the shape traced out by the 
Sun over the course of a year is called an 
analemma.  
The Sun's apparent shift is caused by the 
Earth's motion around the Sun when combined with the 
tilt of the Earth's rotation axis.  
The Sun will appear at its highest point of the 
analemma during 
summer and at its lowest during 
winter.  
Today, the Winter Solstice day in Earth's northern hemisphere,
the Sun is at the bottom of the analemma.  
Analemmas 
created from different
latitudes 
would appear at least slightly different, as well as 
analemmas 
created at a different time each day.  
This particular analemma was built up by 46 separate 
Sun photographs taken during 2003 in 
Athens, 
Greece.
Pictured in the foreground of 
this composite image are pillars called the 
Porch of Maidens, part of the ancient 
Erechtheum 
which was completed in 407 BC.