Solar Trails

Yesterday was our December solstice - the shortest day of the year, winter solstice, in the northern hemisphere and the longest day of the year, summer solstice, in the southern hemisphere.

From a warm shelter on the 45th parallel in the northern hemisphere, I observed an orange sunrise above a snow-covered wetland. Later the sun rose to its lowest position in the sky for the year.

"I don't have to have faith, I have experience."
― Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

The solar trails of the sun are beautifully realized using solargraphy.

A solargraph is made from a pinhole camera that records the movement of the sun over many months. Over the course of the exposure, the sun leaves a trail every day.

Solar trails over half a year at a location in the Andes Mountains.

Each day the sun's path progressively increases above the horizon from a low on winter solstice day, (December in the northern hemisphere), to a peak on summer solstice day (June in the northern hemisphere). Breaks in the solar trails occur when the sun is obscured by cloud cover.

"The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come. At the darkest moment comes the light."
― Joseph Campbell

Cerro Paranal in northern Chile

REFERENCES

• Solargraphs of ESO by Robert Fosbury and Tarja Trygg. Astronomical News.
• A Solargraph taken from APEX at Chajnantor. European Southern Observatory.