NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day Features Analemma Over Scotland's Callanish Stones

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) selected an image titled "Analemma over the Callanish Stones" for its September 20, 2026 feature, according to the agency's website.

APOD, a project run by NASA in collaboration with Michigan Technological University, publishes a new astronomical image or photograph each day accompanied by a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer, the site states.

The Callanish Stones are a Neolithic stone circle located on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland's Outer Hebrides, a site long associated with astronomical and calendrical observations by ancient peoples, according to widely documented historical accounts.

An analemma is a figure-eight pattern traced by the position of the sun in the sky when observed at the same time of day over the course of a year, a phenomenon caused by the tilt of Earth's axis and the eccentricity of its orbit. Capturing an analemma typically requires photographing the sun's position at regular intervals across many months and combining the images into a single composite, a technique astrophotographers have used to document the effect against notable landmarks.

NASA's APOD archive did not provide further technical details in the material reviewed, including the specific photographer or exposure methodology for this particular image. The full explanation and image are available on NASA's APOD website.

APOD has operated since 1995 and maintains a searchable archive, along with educational resources, on its site.