23/09/2026
The Sun has been drawing this shape above Earth for thousands of years. ☀️
But you can’t see it by watching the sky for a single day.
This is an analemma — a composite created by photographing the Sun from the same location at the same time throughout an entire year.
The result is a strange figure-eight shape.
Its form comes from two things working together: Earth’s 23.4° axial tilt and the fact that Earth moves around the Sun in an elliptical orbit. The Sun therefore doesn’t return to exactly the same position in the sky at the same clock time each day. 🌍
Here, the annual path is shown above the ancient Callanish Stones in Scotland, a stone circle dating back roughly 4,700 years.
And now the timing gets even more interesting.
The September equinox arrives around September 22–23, when the Sun crosses Earth’s equatorial plane and the Northern Hemisphere begins its astronomical autumn.
One year.
Hundreds of Sun positions.
One extraordinary figure eight.
📍 Callanish Stones, Isle of Lewis, Scotland
Have you ever seen an analemma before?