Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
When facing the equator, the sun appears to move from left to right in the Northern Hemisphere and from right to left in the Southern Hemisphere. The latitude (and hemisphere)-specific solar path differences are critical to effective passive solar building design. They are essential data for optimal window and overhang seasonal design.
The Sun's path changes with its declination during the year. The intersections of the curves with the horizontal axis show azimuths in degrees from North where the Sun rises and sets. The Sun appears to move northward during the northern spring, crossing the celestial equator on the March equinox.
The Sun's path each day can be seen from right to left in this image across the sky; the path of the following day runs slightly lower until the day of the winter solstice, whose path is the lowest one in the image.
Heliographic coordinate systems are used to identify locations on the Sun's surface. The two most commonly used systems are the Stonyhurst and Carrington systems. They both define latitude as the angular distance from the solar equator, but differ in how they define longitude. In Stonyhurst coordinates, the longitude is fixed for an observer on ...
If north is at the top, west is to the right. This corresponds with the sign of the equation of time, which is positive in the westward direction. The further west the Sun is, compared with its mean position, the more "fast" a sundial is, compared with a clock. (See Equation of time#Sign of the equation of time.) If the analemma is a graph with ...
Most sun charts plot azimuth versus altitude throughout the days of the winter solstice and summer solstice, as well as a number of intervening days.Since the apparent movement of the Sun as viewed from Earth is nearly symmetrical about the solstice, plotting dates for one half of the year gives a good approximation for the rest of the year.
Burt's solar compass or astronomical compass/sun compass is a surveying instrument that makes use of the Sun's direction instead of magnetism. William Austin Burt invented his solar compass in 1835. The solar compass works on the principle that the direction to the Sun at a specified time can be calculated if the position of the observer on the ...
The solar azimuth angle is the azimuth (horizontal angle with respect to north) of the Sun's position. [1] [2] [3] This horizontal coordinate defines the Sun's relative direction along the local horizon, whereas the solar zenith angle (or its complementary angle solar elevation) defines the Sun's apparent altitude.