How to use the program

Sol Path provides a graphical representation of the apparent path of the sun through the daytime sky. The interface is very simple, consisting of two inputs (date and location), and the sun path diagram.

Inputs

date

Use the calendar to set the date...click on the upper-left and lower-right corners to scroll through the months, and click on a number 1 to 31 to set the date.

location

Use the globe input to set your latitude: click and hold down on the slider "thumb" and drag it around the edge of the globe to set the location. The globe allows you set set values of 90 degrees north latitude to 90 degrees south latitude.

Output

The sun path diagram displays the path of the sun. The diagram is a grid, with the vertical axis representing the height of the sun in the sky (altitude angle), and the horizontal axis representing the compass direction of the sun (azimuth angle).

The sun's path is described by a series of small yellow globes, each of which is a half-hour time interval. The globes have numbers in them representing the hour of the day (i.e., the globe with a "12" in it is solar noon). All times are local solar time, not clock time (to convert LST to clock time, see the SunAngle program).

The sun path will be a quasi-semicircle for temperate latitudes, which are the regions the program was designed for. If the latitude is set to a an equatorial region, be prepared for interesting (but probably correct) results!