Sun Position Winter Vs Summer

The suns position will be on the far side of the equator for the autumn and winter months and on the close side in the spring and summer.

Sun position winter vs summer. As can be clearly seen the two paths are different with it been longer and higher in the sky in summer and shorter and lower in the sky during winter. That lowest path is the winter solstice where the sun reverses course from dropping lower to rising higher with respect to the horizon while the highest path corresponds to the summer solstice. You can change the suns positions for sunrise selected time and sunset see. During the winter solstice sun does not rise more than 16560 above the horizon at midday but 63440 in summer solstice above the same horizon direction.

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. In the winter the sun is relatively low in the sky with its lowest arc through the sky on the winter solstice on december 21 st. Notice the sun is rising slightly north of northeast about 50 something degrees away from east. If you are in the northern hemisphere the sun will cross over the equator on september 23rd and be over the southern hemisphere until march 23rd when it will cross over again to warm your hemisphere in the northern summer.

If you are uncertain of the time zone for a location refer to our time zone table. Therefore on the day of the summer solstice the sun appears at its highest elevation with a noontime position that changes very little for several days before and after the summer solstice. On this day the suns amplitude is at its maximum. Ignore the hour of sunrise.

Given the latitude of southern alaska this is once again consistent with our maximum amplitude table above. In the summer the sun travels a high path through the sky and is at its highest angle on the summer solstice on june 21 st. Its the june solstice and the beginning of summer in alaska. Lets draw the suns path on summer solstice and winter solstice.

Just note the suns position now and note it again every week or 10 days and youll easily see the suns northward shift between now and the june solstice. The solstices summer winter the summer solstice occurs at the moment the earths tilt toward from the sun is at a maximum. The difference in the length of the day between summer and winter from here to the north begin to be striking slightly more than 8 hours at winter solstice to more than 16 hours during the summer solstice.