A Year of Sunrises

The sunrise point along the eastern horizon changes slightly from day to day. In the northern hemisphere, it moves northward from the first day of winter until the first day of summer, then returns southward until the first day of winter. Despite a popular misconception, the Sun rises due east (and sets due west) only twice per year, on the equinoxes.

The sunrise point changes due to the tilt of Earth's axis of rotation with respect to the plane of its orbit around the Sun. The change is most perceptible around the equinoxes (around Mar 21 and Sep 21) and least perceptible around the solstices (around Jun 21 and Dec 21). The farther north or south from Earth's equator, the greater the total change in the sunrise position.

In Edmonton, Alberta, at latitude 53.5 N, the change in the sunrise point in the six months between solstices is quite large (84 degrees). One of the best places in Edmonton to see the sunrise point change along a familiar horizon is Valleyview Drive, which is where I photographed sunrise once a month for a year (as near as possible to the 21st of the month as clear skies in the morning permitted).

This video shows the 13 sunrise images from Dec 2020 to Dec 2021 and stacks them to visually depict the change in the sunrise point over a year.

Image Acquisition
Camera: Canon 60D
Lens: Canon EF-S 10-18mm, at f/4.5, 10mm FL
Mount: Manfrotto tripod with geared head

Images Processed with GIMP.
Video made with Pro Show Gold.

Footnote
The final image stack can be viewed in high resolution here:

Essential Data
Here's the essential data from the 13 shoots. Each shoot was planned to capture sunrise with the Sun 0.5° to 1.0° above the horizon.

Date Rise R Az D Image I Az Alt Temp ( WC)
Fri 2020 12 18 08:47 130.5 0.0 08:55 132.1 0.6 -16 (-24)
Wed 2021 01 20 08:36 123.8 0.5 08:46 125.7 0.8 0 ( -6)
Thu 2021 02 20 07:41 107.1 0.7 07:50 108.8 0.8 -7 (-10)
Sat 2021 03 20 07:35 88.8 0.7 07:45 90.6 0.9 -1 ( -4)
Tue 2021 04 21 06:19 68.3 0.0 06:28 70.1 0.9 1
Thu 2021 05 20 05:25 53.4 0.4 05:36 55.6 0.9 0 ( -3)
Sun 2021 06 20 05:04 46.5 0.0 05:16 48.9 0.9 10
Sun 2021 07 24 05:07 54.0 1.2 05:48 56.2 0.9 10
Fri 2021 08 21 06:24 68.5 0.0 06:34 70.4 0.9 9
Sun 2021 09 22 07:20 88.8 0.7 07:30 90.7 0.9 9
Wed 2021 10 20 08:11 106.8 0.6 08:21 108.8 0.9 0
Tue 2021 11 23 08:15 124.7 0.8 08:22 126.1 0.5 -4 ( -7)
Sun 2021 12 19 08:47 130.5 0.0 08:56 132.2 0.6 -15 (-22)

Rise = Sunrise time
R Az = Rise azimuth
D = Delta azimuth from 21st of month
Rise = Image time
I Az = Image azimuth
Alt = Altitude of Sun at image time (degrees)
Temp = Temperature at image time
WC = Wind Chill

[soumeyalaloui]

Subhana Allah
He is The Creator and The Unique!!!

[yewnique]

This was SO beautiful to watch.

Thank you for the additional information of sunrise times.

[Arun]

Thank you for capturing and sharing this beauty! The world still is a beautiful place. ❤

[fabricioaquino]

See your video on the astronomic pic of the day website.. mesmerizing!

[nix]

Gorgeous! Really well done. I love that the video shows more of the surroundings, it's cool to see the changes throughout the year. Thank you for sharing!

[dedogster]

Fantastic work! Thank you for sharing that, and congratulations for be the post of the day on Astronomy Picture of the Day!

[mayahlovesnature]

Wooow awesome. Thank you for your hardwork. Proud Albertan here. 😊♥️❤️

[reidsampey]

Brilliant, my friend !! Very well done!

[cycologist]

nice to see something from my hometown!! cool!!

[bbl]

Interesting to read an old book talking very precisely about the path of the sun following portals each side of the North. Six each side of it. And here we have an animation illustrating Enoch's visions.

[ShinyOwen]

Great series of photos! And what a great thing getting on APOD, again!

[Sunny-prqw]

this is so beautiful...thank you!!! I live in the far NW corner of the continental US and the sun moves about the same from summer to winter here, always fascinates me.

[akmina]

Root of "solstice" is "sun standing still." And this series of pictures shows why it does seem to stand still! The sun reaches its farthest, stands still, then moves back to the opposite path. Amazing!

[danielabandeira]

Perfeito. Vou usar na escola com as crianças que trabalho❤

[MagnesiumMines]

We can all agree that may was the best sunrise!

[themetalslayer]

ah!! Alberta!! I better understand why there's so much snow (nice landscape and amazing show from the nature itself)

[rosemarysheppard]

This has really caught my imagination ... it is beautiful and lovely to see the changing seasons and locality on the video. Congratulations for having the photo on the NASA Astronomy Photo of the Day. Thank you, Luca.

[SlimHandle]

Cosine or sine rule explains why 1 month from solstices looks almost the same as solstices.

[dianpink]

Beautiful sunsetta pattern. I grew up by a lake and facing NWW viewing the orbit of the earth with the placement of the sun on the distant horizon is quite noticeable

[zonamshresth]

Ye We too noticed the sun climb the nagarkot hill from right shoulder to other