Infinite loop: See the sun's yearlong figure-eight in the sky

This strange figure of the sun creating a figure-eight shape in the sky is an awesome sight, but required a year of patience by a dedicated photographer to create.

Veteran astrophotographer Giuseppe Petricca took the image from Sulmona, Abruzzo, Italy using a Nikon Coolpix P90 Bridge. The dots forming a curved figure-eight pattern in the sky mark where the sun appeared every day at the same time. A composite causes the pattern called a solar analemma.

"If we take a picture day by day, always at the same hour, the sun is not in a fixed position, but it slowly climbs up and then down the curve," Petricca wrote in an email. [See more amazing sun photos from space]

Important: Never look directly at the sun through a telescope, binoculars or with the unaided eye without proper protection. Serious eye damage or blindness can occur. Astronomers and veteran skywatchers use special filters to safely observe and photograph the sun.

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