Sunrise and sunset direction

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Every day, the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars appear to rise in the east and set in the west. It spins on its axis from west to east approximately every 24 hours. To us, it appears as if everything in the sky is moving from east to west. During summer in the northern hemisphere, the Sun rises north of east and sets north of west. It is high in the sky at noon.

Sunrise and sunset direction

Have you ever wondered why the direction of sunset changes throughout the year? We usually speak of the sun setting in the west, but technically it only sets due west at the spring and autumn equinoxes. For the rest of the year, the direction of sunset pivots about this westerly point, moving northerly in winter, and towards the south in summer. In the northern hemisphere, the sunset tends more northerly in summer and more southerly in winter. But it must have taken years for ancient astronomers to notice the particulars of all these patterns, let alone explain them astronomically. One of the earliest records of such an observation may lie in the alignment of the Wurdi Youang stone circle in Victoria, on land traditionally owned by the Wathaurong people. But historians do know that ancient Greek-speaking people deduced an extraordinary amount of astronomical information from the way the sunset and sunrise directions change throughout the year. Most of the early Greek astronomical manuscripts have been lost, but their content was developed and codified by Claudius Ptolemy, about CE, in a book known as Almagest. Its first printed appearance, in Venice in , was based on a mediaeval Latin translation of the Arabic adaptation of the original Greek — quite a multicultural achievement! The sunset direction reaches its northerly and southerly extremes at the solstices, while the noon altitudes are also at their extremes highest and lowest at the solstices. The midpoints in both cases occur at the equinoxes. Thanks largely to Hipparchus of Nicaea — who worked about BCE, and to whom Ptolemy was indebted — astronomers had already figured out the geometrical configuration of the equinoxes.

This is the basis by which ancient mariners navigated the oceans. Shadow length [m]:. To understand the sun and the moon even better, visit the website SunMoonTrack.

SunCalc shows the movement of the sun and sunlight-phase for a certain day at a certain place. You can change the suns positions for sunrise , selected time and sunset see. The thin yellow-colored curve shows the trajectory of the sun, the yellow deposit shows the variation of the path of the sun throughout the year. The closer a point in the center, the higher the sun above the horizon. The colors in the above time-slider shows the sunlight during the day. The sun on the time slider can be moved by mouse or with the arrow keys of the keyboard.

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Sunrise and sunset direction

Toggle navigation. Home Countries Search. United states. Please select a city in order to display location specific sun orientation data. List of Cities Abilene Texas,. Akron Ohio,. Alafaya Florida,. Alameda California,. Albuquerque New Mexico,.

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A bead placed on one of the tracks simulates the Sun rising along the eastern horizon, travelong along the sky, and setting on the western horizon. For Melbourne, it's Adelaide Australia. The longer arc is always the midsummer path while the shorter arc the midwinter path. Sun path refers to the daily and seasonal arc-like path that the Sun appears to follow across the sky as the Earth rotates and orbits the Sun. Seattle United States. Print - Current Data. Capital : Bern. Altitude The pictures below show the following perspectives from Earth, marking the hourly positions of the Sun on both solstice days. Detailed sun information

SunCalc shows the movement of the sun and sunlight-phase for a certain day at a certain place. You can change the suns positions for sunrise , selected time and sunset see. The thin yellow-colored curve shows the trajectory of the sun, the yellow deposit shows the variation of the path of the sun throughout the year.

Shadow length [m]:. Population : 4. Capital : Bern. We see sunrise and sunset at different points on the horizon during the year. North of the Tropic of Cancer, the noon shadow will always point north, and south of the Tropic of Capricorn, the noon shadow will always point south. You can display here the sun direction and the sunny hours in Moscow Russian federation. On the summer solstice around June 21 , the Sun rises and sets at its most northerly points along the horizon. The longer arc is always the midsummer path while the shorter arc the midwinter path. The solar zenith angle is the zenith angle of the sun , i. Capital : Pretoria. A theoretical observer is supposed to stand near the tree on a small island in the middle of the sea. On the Tropic of Capricorn It is high in the sky at noon. Toggle navigation. We usually speak of the sun setting in the west, but technically it only sets due west at the spring and autumn equinoxes.