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Concept
Sun path
Summary
Sun path, sometimes also called day arc, 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. The Sun's path affects the length of daytime experienced and amount of daylight received along a certain latitude during a given season.
The relative position of the Sun is a major factor in the heat gain of buildings and in the performance of solar energy systems. Accurate location-specific knowledge of sun path and climatic conditions is essential for economic decisions about solar collector area, orientation, landscaping, summer shading, and the cost-effective use of solar trackers.
Sun paths at any latitude and any time of the year can be determined from basic geometry. The Earth's axis of rotation tilts about 23.5 degrees, relative to the plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun. As the Earth orbits the Sun, this creates the 47° declination difference between the solstice sun paths, as well as the hemisphere-specific difference between summer and winter.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter sun (November, December, January) rises in the southeast, transits the celestial meridian at a low angle in the south (more than 43° above the southern horizon in the tropics), and then sets in the southwest. It is on the south (equator) side of the house all day long. A vertical window facing south (equator side) is effective for capturing solar thermal energy. For comparison, the winter sun in the Southern Hemisphere (May, June, July) rises in the northeast, peaks out at a low angle in the north (more than halfway up from the horizon in the tropics), and then sets in the northwest. There, the north-facing window would let in plenty of solar thermal energy to the house.
In the Northern Hemisphere in summer (May, June, July), the Sun rises in the northeast, peaks out slightly south of overhead point (lower in the south at higher latitude), and then sets in the northwest, whereas in the Southern Hemisphere in summer (November, December, January), the Sun rises in the southeast, peaks out slightly north of overhead point (lower in the north at higher latitude), and then sets in the southwest.
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