{"copyright":"Marcella Pace","date":"2025-12-20","explanation":"The word solstic e is from the Latin for Sun and to pause or stand still. And in the days surroun ding a solstice the Sun's annual north-south drift in planet Earth's sky does sl ow down, pause, and then reverse direction. So near the solstice the daily path of the Sun through the sky really doesn't change much. In fact, near the Decembe r solstice, the Sun's consistent, low arc through northern hemisphere skies, alo ng with low surface temperatures, has left a noticeable imprint on this path to the mountain town of Peaio in northern Italy. The morning frost on the road has melted away only where the sunlight was able to reach the ground. But it remains in the areas persistently shadowed by the fence, tattooing in frost an image of the fence on the asphalt surface.","hdurl":"https:\/\/apod.nasa.gov\/apod\/imag e\/2512\/tatooimg_145020251217.jpeg","media_type":"image","service_version":"v1" ,"title":"A Solstice Sun Tattoo","url":"https:\/\/apod.nasa.gov\/apod\/image\/25 12\/tatooimg_145020251217_1024.jpeg"}
