Composite showing the shifting sunset through the seasons, with summer solstice at right and winter solstice at left.
A 3-image blend of images taken at the March 20, 2019 Equinox (centre), the June 19, 2020 Summer Solstice (at right, or technically the day before solstice), and at the December 21, 2019 Winter Solstice (at left). All were taken from the same location and with the same camera and lens. The composite shows the changing position of the sunset point, from far to the northwest at right in summer, to due west at centre at the equinoxes, and far to the southwest at left at the winter solstice. Snow covered the field in March and December but was the field was green in June with the crop just starting to grow. This demonstrates the shifting sunset point through the seasons, in a version revised in June 2020. Following and marking the changing rise and set points of the Sun through the year was important to cultures around the world as it was their calendar, and indeed resulted in many archaeo-astronomy sites and structures in both the Old and New Worlds. This is from a latitude of 51 degrees north from southern Alberta, Canada. The Sun sets due west only at the two equinoxes.
Size: 6900px × 3818px
Location: Alberta, Canada
Photo credit: © Alan Dyer/Stocktrek Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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