(CBS/REUTERS) — To mark Saturday’s (December 21) winter solstice, the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released a timelapse of the world’s weather pattern over the past year.

By looping together one image from each day over the last year, viewers can see the earth’s tilt changing and how it affects seasons and weather patterns from equinox to solstice.

While equinox is the point in the earth’s orbit when the sun is the closest from the equator, solstice is the point where the sun and equator are furthest apart.

In the northern hemisphere, winter solstice occurs when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, which is located at 23.5 degrees south of the equator, according to the NOAA.