<p>Instead of walking in a circle, spin. Take a tiny step forward with your right foot, backward with your left. Then repeat. You are spinning counterclockwise when viewed from above.</p>

<p>Next, imagine holding a landscape photograph at arms length, and you initially facing a floor lamp. Now take that tiny step forward with your right foot, backward with your left. From your body fixed perspective, the landscape photograph doesn't move. It's the lamp that appears to be moving, and it moves to the right.</p>

<p>Next, imagine a helmet cam on your head that rotates to keep the floor lamp in the center of the camera image. From this perspective, it's the landscape photograph that appears to be moving, and it moves to the left.</p>

<p>That's what you are seeing in that youtube video.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-30T04:52:00.923Z
2015-08-30T04:52:00.923Z
David Hammen
<p>I'm having difficulty with an apparent contradiction about the sun's motion during the summer solstice above the arctic circle.</p>

<p>The YouTube video <a href="https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZZcafg-meJA" rel="nofollow">The North Pole Entire Summer of never ending sun Summer Solstice High speed camera</a> and solar motion models show the sun to move clockwise around the horizon for the full 360 degrees during the summer solstice.<br />
However, when I walk in a circle counterclockwise, to represent the earth's rotation, and focus upon a fixed object outside the circle to represent the sun, I get a 180 degree motion, from "east to west", and then the sun's apparent motion returns again from west to east, not the full 360 degrees which everyone reports is the actual phenomenon.  </p>

<p>Can someone help me to understand my dilemma?  </p>

<the-sun>
Sun's apparent motion above the arctic circle during summer solstice
Gerald Fluhrer
# Sun's apparent motion above the arctic circle during summer solstice

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-08-27)

I'm having difficulty with an apparent contradiction about the sun's motion during the summer solstice above the arctic circle.

The YouTube video [The North Pole Entire Summer of never ending sun Summer Solstice High speed camera](https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZZcafg-meJA) and solar motion models show the sun to move clockwise around the horizon for the full 360 degrees during the summer solstice.  
However, when I walk in a circle counterclockwise, to represent the earth's rotation, and focus upon a fixed object outside the circle to represent the sun, I get a 180 degree motion, from "east to west", and then the sun's apparent motion returns again from west to east, not the full 360 degrees which everyone reports is the actual phenomenon.

Can someone help me to understand my dilemma?

**Tags:** the-sun


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-08-30. Score: 2

Instead of walking in a circle, spin. Take a tiny step forward with your right foot, backward with your left. Then repeat. You are spinning counterclockwise when viewed from above.

Next, imagine holding a landscape photograph at arms length, and you initially facing a floor lamp. Now take that tiny step forward with your right foot, backward with your left. From your body fixed perspective, the landscape photograph doesn't move. It's the lamp that appears to be moving, and it moves to the right.

Next, imagine a helmet cam on your head that rotates to keep the floor lamp in the center of the camera image. From this perspective, it's the landscape photograph that appears to be moving, and it moves to the left.

That's what you are seeing in that youtube video.


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