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The Sun's path changes with its declination during the year. The intersections of the curves with the horizontal axis show azimuths in degrees from North where the Sun rises and sets. The Sun appears to move northward during the northern spring, crossing the celestial equator on the March equinox.
On the summer solstice, Earth's maximum axial tilt toward the Sun is 23.44°. [7] Likewise, the Sun's declination from the celestial equator is 23.44°. Diagram of Earth's seasons as seen from the north. Far left: summer solstice for the Northern Hemisphere. Front right: summer solstice for the Southern Hemisphere.
In astronomy, declination (abbreviated dec; symbol δ) is one of the two angles that locate a point on the celestial sphere in the equatorial coordinate system, the other being hour angle. The declination angle is measured north (positive) or south (negative) of the celestial equator , along the hour circle passing through the point in question.
The Earth is tilted approximately 23.5 degrees on its axis, and each solstice is dictated by the amount of solar declination, or "the latitude of Earth where the sun is directly overhead at noon ...
The word solstice is derived from the Latin sol ("sun") and sistere ("to stand still"), because at the solstices, the Sun's declination appears to "stand still"; that is, the seasonal movement of the Sun's daily path (as seen from Earth) pauses at a northern or southern limit before reversing direction.
Seasonal differences in the Sun's declination, as viewed from the mid-northern city of New York, New York Sun path on a polar graph for any location at the latitude of Rotterdam This solargraph exposed over the course of a year shows the Sun's paths of diurnal motion, as seen from Budapest in 2014.
An analemma can be traced by plotting the position of the Sun as viewed from a fixed position on Earth at the same clock time every day for an entire year, or by plotting a graph of the Sun's declination against the equation of time. The resulting curve resembles a long, slender figure-eight with one lobe much larger than the other.
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