Sun Positions
Tracing the elevation of the sun above the horizon (vertical -90 to 90 degrees above the horizon) throughout the year 2022 (horizontal January to December) - the horizontal middle line represents the horizon, so the sun is only visible if above the middle line, i.e., drawn in yellow (the lower part is also shown to show the symmetry of the apparent movement of the sun). The video above varies the latitude from 90°N to 90°S.
The static images below show the data for different fixed locations:
- NorthPole 90.0°N: note that the thin line means that the sun does not change its height against the horizon during a single day, also meaning that in the summer months (middle part) the sun never sets, and in the winter months it will stay below the horizon all day
- Longyearbyen (Spitzbergen) 78.217°N: still very far in the north, i.e., above the Polar Circle, winters are dark throughout out the day and the sun never sets in summer - but there is now movement of the sun up and down during the days
- Switzerland 47.326°N: now below the Polar Circle, so the sun is visible also during the winter, but reaches far higher in the summer months
- Singapore 1.290°N: being close to the equator means the orbital system must be mostly symmetric winter vs summer, as can be seen nicely here
- Antarctica Neumayer Station 70.67°S: this is south of the southern Polar Circle, so again the sun stays down part of the year - but here that is in the months around July
- South Pole 90.0°S: similar to the North Pole, with summer and winter switched
The underlying calculations of the sun position have been done using the nice and concise code given by
Python Sun Position for Solar Energy and Research | by John Clark Craig | Level Up Coding
(after conversion to Kotlin).