Actually, the Sun only rises due east and sets due west on 2 days of the year — the spring and fall equinoxes! On other days, the Sun rises either north or south of “due east” and sets north or south of “due west.” Each day the rising and setting points change slightly.

How to Calculate The Sun’s Altitude

1. Step 1: Get Situated. Your latitude is a number between 0 degrees (if you live at the equator) and 90 degrees (if you live at the North or South pole).
2. Step 2: Determine the Sun’s Equinox Altitude.
3. Determine the Sun’s Solstice Altitudes.
4. Step 4: Factor in the Declination for Today.

1. Using rule (i) Scenario: True altitude at midday: 72o 30′.1 Sun’s declination: 23o 21′.3. LAT = DEC + (90o – ALT) (rule i) = 23o 21′.3 + (90o – 72o 30′.1)
2. Using rule (ii) Scenario: True altitude at midday: 69o 41′.3 Sun’s declination: 23o 25′.6. LAT = DEC – (90o – ALT) (rule ii)
3. Using rule (iii)

During the summer solstice, the solar altitude at solar noon will be 69.5 degrees. During the winter solstice, the solar altitude at solar noon will be 22.5 degrees.

The sun is directly overhead at noon. At the Decrmber Solstice, the sun is always to the south, and never quites get directly overhead. The equator has 12 hours of sunlight every day of the year.

At the poles the sun goes around in circles above or below the horizon. At 45 degrees lattitude the sun rises and sets at about 45 degrees to the horizon on equinoxes. That’s 10.6 degrees up and 10.6 degrees sideways per hour. This is not true near noon.

This means the sunrise on the summer solstice (June 21) is at 30 degrees north of east and the sunrise at the winter solstice (December 21) is 30 degrees south of due east. The offset from due east also applies at sunset from due west. The formula is sin(offset) = sin(declination)/cos(latitude).

It is all about the tilt of the Earth’s axis. Many people believe that the temperature changes because the Earth is closer to the sun in summer and farther from the sun in winter. In fact, the Earth is farthest from the sun in July and is closest to the sun in January!

We are not getting closer to the sun, but scientists have shown that the distance between the sun and the Earth is changing. The sun’s weaker gravity as it loses mass causes the Earth to slowly move away from it. The movement away from the sun is microscopic (about 15 cm each year).

Our sun’s death is a long way off — about 4.5 billion years, give or take — but someday it’s going to happen, and what then for our solar system? As the fusion of hydrogen continues inside the sun, the result of that reaction — helium — builds up in the core.

Ever wondered where in the world is the first place to see the sun rise? Well, wonder no longer! North of Gisborne, New Zealand, around the coast to Opotiki and inland to Te Urewera National Park, The East Cape has the honour of witnessing the world’s first sunrise each and every day.

Norway

1. Alaska Gets Six Months of 24-Hour Sunlight and Darkness. Barrow is one of Alaska’s northernmost cities and gets complete darkness for two months out of the year. During the summer, the sun doesn’t completely set in Barrow from early May until the end of July.