Strange as it may seem, only seven times has someone ever managed to successfully image the solar analemma as a multi-exposure on a single piece of film. For those not familiar with the term, an analemma is the figure "8" loop that results when one observes the position of the sun at the same time during the day over the course of a year. Due to the earth's tilt about its axis (23.45°) and its elliptical orbit about the sun, the location of the sun is not constant from day to day when observed at the same time on each day over the course of a full year. Furthermore, this loop will be inclined at different angles depending on one's geographical latitude.



Since the analemma is considered one of the most difficult and demanding astronomical phenomena to image, I immediately set out on such a marathon during the summer of 2001 by pursuing a complete set of analemmas from 08:00:00 to 17:00:00 UT+2 (hourly intervals) as well as the special case of the perfectly vertical analemma on the meridian (12:28:16 UT+2). For complete details and analysis concerning the analemma on the southern meridian, the interested reader is referred to my article in Coelum Astronomia (Vol 60: 71-74, Feb/2003). The project's successful completion provided various firsts including the first analemma ever imaged in Greece; the first image ever of the perfectly vertical analemma; the first analemma(s) ever imaged during a single calendar year; the first to ever image more than one analemma; and the first to ever capture two analemmas on a single piece of 35mm film.



Note: For an animation involving the analemma at 13:00:00 UT+2 and which beautifully documents the actual motion of the sun during twelve consecutive months when observed at precisely 13:00:00 UT+2, please see the example here.



Note: As noted elsewhere, more men have walked on the moon than have successfully photographed the analemma (see S&T, Dec/2003: 73).