Chapel Tower camera records the Sun’s arc over Cambridge sky
“The result is an incredible record of the Sun’s progress”
In summer 2021, Dr Matt Bothwell, Public Astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge, attached a pinhole solar camera to the St John’s College Chapel Tower and left it there for six months.
The resulting photo, which was captured on a camera that looks like a tin can, shows the Sun’s movement across the skyline of Cambridge from the summer solstice to the winter solstice.
Each separate arc is a day, and over time these slowly reveal the pattern that the Sun follows over the course of half a year.
Dr Bothwell said: “The tower of St John’s College Chapel was the perfect place for this kind of experiment. Being one of the tallest buildings in Cambridge, the tower provided an unmatched view of the sky, as well as an incredible look across the iconic Cambridge skyline.
“The photo came out better than I had hoped! It was certainly nerve-wracking to open the camera - after six months in the open, I was half expecting the film to have been ruined by rain, or pigeons! But the result is beautiful - an incredible record of the Sun’s progress across the sky in the second half of 2021.
“I’m delighted that St John’s was able to host such a wonderful project.”
Published 21/01/2022