Here is a picture of the analemma, probably taken from Germany.
If the same photograph was shot from another location, several thousand miles in any direction, would the orientation be the same? Would the smaller lobe be reversed (and be on the bottom right instead of the upper left) in the southern hemisphere?
Also, I notice the summer and winter solstices on the east and west sides of the diagram, but I also notice that the sun dips slightly lower on the horizon after the winter solstice and rises slightly higher after the summer solstice. On what two days of the year do these events (the lowest and highest “noons” relative to the horizon) occur?
Orientation mainly depends on latitude (higher or lower in the sky) and time of day each shot is taken (morning, noon, or afternoon to determine if it leans left, right or an upright figure 8) and other minor things that the sites go further into.
The shape of the analemma on the celestial sphere is fixed. It’s a function of the Sun’s seasonal change in declination and the equation of time, and these are invariant.
When you photograph the analemma from inside the celestial sphere, however, you’re projecting a figure on a sphere into two dimensions. A variety of stretches and truncations are possible. The results will depend on your latitude and the hours before or after mean solar noon at which you choose to shoot.
The fatter lobe would be farther above the horizon, yes.
Because of the distortion I discussed above, that can’t be answered. It’s a function of latitude and time before or after noon. For example, if the photographer had shot this analemma at mean solar noon, the figure would be bolt upright and the high and low points would be at the solstices.
To be a bit more clear, the fatter lobe will be on the southernmore end, no matter where you are in the world (this is due to Earth’s perihelion being in the southern hemisphere summer). In the northern hemisphere, the southern end is the one closer to the horizon, while in the southern end is the one higher in the sky.
I love this site. I’ve never had an astronomy class and I’ve never seen this word in my life and I’ve learned about something very interesting by 8:15 AM.
