29, 14:00 UTC): Originally, I inadvertently wrote that six months after being overhead, the Sun would be 43° from overhead, when I meant it would be 47° from overhead. The Sun rises in the east, only rising due east on the equinoctes, I’ll note. 29, 15:00 UTC): Arg! I originally typed “west” when I meant “east”. If we don’t pay attention, we’ll miss all the fun. The entire Universe is wheeling and careening around over our heads and beneath our feet. It’s an amazing reminder that we take a lot of things we see every day for granted, and miss a lot of the cool details when we focus on the here-and-now. I find the analemma fascinating, and not just because of the science.

It’s interesting to see how tings change planet to planet. Not only that, but other planets have analemmae, too! Those shapes depend on their own axial tilts and ellipticities, so the shapes vary quite a bit. That skews the analemma a bit, making the two loops different sizes.

There are details that confuse this, too, like the fact that the two motions aren’t aligned the axial tilt contribution is maximized on the solstices, but the elliptical orbit contribution is at a maximum in April and July (near the equinoctes, coincidentally-that’s the correct plural of equinox, by the way).

Image of the sun rising