I've always wondered about this, and never got around to doing anything methodical to answer my question, but so many other people have that there's a name for it - an analemma! How cool is this though, the pattern in the sky that the sun makes, if you photograph it at the same time of day over the period of the year... If I move house and find myself a spot I could do this from, I'm so going to photograph an analemma next year (and figure out how to make it into a cool picture like this...)! *g*
(Pic from
Nasa's Astronomy Picture of the Day of course - today! *g*