Sunrise Sweep by Luca Vanzella
Sunrise Sweep (Luca Vanzella)

Sunrise Sweep by Luca Vanzella

The drifting point of sunrise, or sunrise sweep, wins Photo of the Week.

Photo of the Week for June 22, 2018

With the solstice having just occurred on June 21, summer has officially begun in the northern hemisphere. For some, that date also brings with it the less happy realization that the days are now growing shorter as we once again begin the long march toward winter. Another, less obvious (but related) effect is that the point of sunrise will now begin to drift southward.

This shift is nicely illustrated in this composite image by Luca Vanzella. His photo shows sunrise near three key dates in 2017 (from left to right): the summer solstice, the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. Luca’s home city of Edmonton, Alberta, is on the horizon.

Sunrise Sweep by Luca Vanzella
Sunrise Sweep (Luca Vanzella)

Each individual exposure in Luca’s photo was captured with a Canon EOS Rebel 3Ti DSLR camera and a wide-angle zoom lens set to 10mm focal length. The sun images (spaced 5 minutes apart) were made with a solar filter mounted on the front of the lens.