Tor Arne Holm has created a device for tracking the Sun's position throughout the year.
Anthony Ayiomamitis took these images of the Sun as it appeared over the Temple of Zeus in Athens over the course of a year. // Anthony Ayiomamitis
A few years ago, I came across images of the Sun taken throughout a whole year on exactly the same time on the clock each day. These images were taken by Anthony Ayiomamitis. Before I saw his images, the analemma — the shape the Sun’s position traces in the sky over the course of a year — had passed me by.
You can see it in the first picture. The topmost image of the Sun was taken July 21, and the image at the bottom was taken December 21. In the years since, I have been fascinated by this phenomenon, the analemma.
Last winter, I got the idea of making a device to help me mark the Sun’s position on the wall of my house. The device is about 1 meter long, and at the tip of it I have soldered a small disc with a hole (third picture).
When the Sun shines on the disc, its image appears on the wall. Once a week at 1 p.m. sharp, I mark the Sun’s image by hammering a nail in the wall. In the course of one year there will be the pattern of an analemma.
Tor Arne Holm created this device that projects an image of the Sun onto the south wall of his house. // Tor Arne Holm
Each day at the same time, he places a nail where the Sun appears. This image shows where it was at 12:53 p.m. local time on August 9. Tor Arne Holm
I often wonder if the great thinkers of Greece, Babylonia, and Egypt 2,000-3,000 years ago knew about the analemma? What would they then think of the heliocentric system vs. the geocentric system? I give this challenge to the reader.
You can find out more about the Sun’s analemma at www.analemma.com. My site is www.sarufi.com.
— Tor Arne Holm