Analemmas

Analemmas are assemblies of images of where the Sun is at a particular mean time over the course of a year. The assembled picture is a great way to show both the variation in Solar Altitude over the course of a year, and the variation in the Solar Day over the course of a year.The animation to the left shows how these two solar variations occur over the course of a year, when the Sun is viewed at mean noon each day, from the same location and same vantage point.Mean noon or "clock noon" is 12 PM, as shown on the clock.The variation in Solar Altitude is caused by the Earth's Axial Tilt. The variation in the Solar Day is caused by the variation in speed of the the Earth as it moves through its orbit. Sometimes the Sun is "late" (to the east of the center line of the "noon analemma"). Does this mean that the Earth was moving faster or slower in its orbit than the average amount that its moves daily over the course of a year?

**********