Solar calculations
SunCalc supplies astronomical solar positions and events. Solar Path Tracker normalizes the angles and formats them for the selected local timezone.
Purpose and accountability
About Solar Path Tracker
Solar Path Tracker turns a location, date, and local time into a readable sun path, solar angles, astronomical events, and educational worked examples. It is designed for first-pass daylight research before an on-site or professional assessment.
Last updated:
Why it exists
Make solar geometry easier to inspect
Questions about direct light usually involve several facts at once: where the Sun sits around the compass, how high it is, how the path changes through the day, and when the horizon events occur. The site keeps those facts together in one visual workflow.
The map and 3D scene support exploration. The calculators provide focused inputs and results. The guides explain how to interpret those results without claiming that an unobstructed astronomical model can see a real building, tree, hill, cloud layer, or window.
Who it helps
Typical use cases
- • Property researchers comparing morning, afternoon, winter, and summer exposure.
- • Photographers planning a low-angle light window and compass direction.
- • Designers and installers preparing observations before qualified site analysis.
- • Students and everyday users learning how azimuth, altitude, daylight, and shadows relate.
Sources and method
Where the results come from
Time and location context
Luxon applies IANA timezone rules. Coordinate-to-timezone lookup is handled locally with @photostructure/tz-lookup. TomTom powers primary location search; OpenStreetMap provides map data and the explicitly requested fallback search.
Definitions and limits
The public Methodology documents timezone conversion, azimuth normalization, altitude and event definitions, golden-hour differences, polar handling, rounding, and excluded real-world factors.
Editorial ownership
Editorial and technical review process
Solar Path Tracker is an independently operated educational and research tool. Its public author identity is the Solar Path Tracker organization. The site does not use a fabricated personal author or imply that its maintainers hold professional solar, architectural, surveying, or engineering certification.
The site maintainer is responsible for technical maintenance, reproducible datasets, worked examples, source checks, calculation tests, accessibility checks, and corrections to published content. Guide bylines link to this section so readers can see the role behind the review without requiring a private individual's name.
Reported discrepancies are reproduced from the submitted coordinates, local date and time, timezone, page, displayed output, and comparison source. A confirmed calculation or explanation error is corrected in code or content, covered by an automated regression check where practical, and released with the page's visible modified date changed only when that page actually changes.
Model limits remain visible even when a benchmark passes: the engine describes unobstructed astronomical geometry and does not inspect terrain, buildings, vegetation, clouds, equipment, or a surveyed horizon. For consequential decisions, compare the output with an independent source and a qualified on-site assessment.
Request a correction
Email solarpathtracker@gmail.com or use the Contact page. Include enough inputs to reproduce the result; private location details should be reduced to the precision needed for the check.
Verification approach
How changes and examples are checked
Calculation tests cover known locations, timezone conversion, normal sunrise/sunset days, polar day, polar night, event availability, and angle normalization. Fixed guide examples are recomputed from the same engine rather than copied from unrelated tables.
Interface checks separately cover server/client date agreement, location search, manual coordinates, GPS on the main tool, date and hour selection, map and 3D interaction, calculator state isolation, structured data, sitemap entries, and disabled/enabled advertising modes.
A production HTTP response confirms routing and crawlability; a browser run confirms rendering and console behaviour. Neither is presented as proof of a particular physical horizon or device until that environment is actually tested.
For consequential work, users should compare the result with a reliable independent source and an on-site observation. Rounded web output is not surveyed precision or professional certification.
Contact and corrections
Report an error or ask a question
The dedicated Contact page explains what to include for a reproducible calculation discrepancy, software bug, privacy question, or general request. The historical /about#contact link remains available here for compatibility.
Public email: solarpathtracker@gmail.com
Go to Contact