Solar Path
This animated visualization displays the Sun’s path across the sky for the current day, based on the viewer’s geolocation. Using a stereographic projection with the horizon as the outer circle, concentric rings mark elevation angles while radiating graticule lines indicate azimuth. A red dot marks the Sun’s current position, updated every second, with labels for its azimuth and elevation. The solar path is drawn as a red line, and its intersection with the horizon indicates sunrise and sunset. Geolocation is requested on load, and the visualization uses NOAA-based solar calculations rendered in SVG with D3.v3.
AI-generated descriptionThis chart shows the path of the Sun in the sky today based on your current location. The red dot represents the current apparent position of the Sun in terms of azimuth and elevation.
The outer black circle represents the horizon, where the elevation of the Sun is 0°. If the Sun is outside this circle, it is below the horizon. (This means it’s dark outside, though note that some definitions of twilight extend as far as 18° below the horizon.) Where the path intersects the horizon determines sunrise and sunset. The inner concentric circles represent higher solar elevations.
The radiating lines of the graticule represent azimuth. For example, 0° azimuth means that the Sun is due North of your current location. The azimuth tells you the direction of shadows cast by the Sun, while the elevation determines their length.
forked from <a href='http://bl.ocks.org/mbostock/'>mbostock</a>'s block: <a href='http://bl.ocks.org/mbostock/7784f4b2c7838b893e9b'>Solar Path</a>