Sun position?

Question

By how many degrees the position of the sun shifts?

Answer 1

As compared to,,,,,our galatic equator? Our yearly cycles? The tilt of our planet in relation to the Sun? Need a bit more data- thanks

Answer 2

Hello, this question is a bit unclear, but perhaps you mean, how many degrees does our sun shift per hour? If so, since the earth rotates once every 24 hour that means the earth rotates at 15 degrees per hour, which will make the sun appear to move around the same amount, I think it also depends on where you are on the earth. Is this what you mean?

Answer 3

the answer probable relies upon on what you want to envision the area of the solar in connection with. in case you propose in connection with the earth floor, honestly. in case you propose on the problem of bodies outdoors the picture voltaic device, basically about honestly no longer without calculations.

Answer 4

Because the Earth orbits the Sun, the Sun follows an apparent path called the ecliptic. Once per orbit (in relation to distant stars), the Sun would pass in front of the same star (if it were not for the precession of Earth's spin axis -- but we'll disregard that).

One sidereal year (in relation to stars) is 365.256363 days of 86,400 seconds each. This is an average over thousands of years. Your actual milleage may vary.

One orbit is 360 degrees (a full circle along the ecliptic).

360 degrees / 365.256363 days = 0.98561 deg. per day
= 59.14' per day = 59' 08.2" per day.

This is relative to fixed stars.


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The Sun also has an apaprent movement caused by Earth's rotation on its axis. We see the Sun rise in the East and set in the West. The average period is called one day (24 hours).

The Sun appears to go one full circle per day so its rate is (on average) 15 degrees per hour, 15' per minute or 15" per seconds. In order to avoid confusion between seconds of angle and seconds of time (and same for minutes), we say 15 arc-seconds per second of time.

This is relative to an observer standing still on Earth.

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Because of the tilt of Earth's spin axis, the Sun's declination (apparent distance from the celestial equator) goes from 23.4393 deg. N on June solstice (start of northern hemisphere Summer in Western tradition) to 23.4393 deg. S on December solstice (start of Winter).

The rate at which the declination changes varies as the cosine of the declination. This means that the rate of change is maximum around the Equinoces (Equinox of March and Equinox of September) at which times the rate of change of the Sun's declination is 1' per hour (towards the North in March).

The Sun's altitude over the Southern horizon (for us northerners) changes by 46.8786 degrees, in a cycle that lasts one year (a tropical year of 365.242190 days -- this is the "real" year, as determined by the cycle of seasons).

So this is relative to the Southern horizon (or to the Northern horizon for people living in the southern hemisphere).

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The point where the Sun's centre crosses the line of zero declination, going northward, is called the Spring Equinox in the northern hemisphere (it happens around March 21). It is where the ecliptic (path of the Sun) crosses the celestial equator (line of zero declination).

Because of the precession of Earth's spin axis, over a 25,800 year period, this point moves by 50.29" per year (360 degrees divided by 25,800 years).

The point on the celestial sphere where the Equinox takes place was called "The First Point of Aries" by the Classical Greek astronomer and we have kept the name even though it is no longer in the constellation called Aries.

Because this point moves a bit every year, it crosses into a new constellation every 2150 years or so (25,800 divided by 12). About 2000 years ago, it crossed into Pisces (the Fish). If we still used the old borders, we'd say that it is crossing into the constellation of the water bearer (This is the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius... as the song said).

However, the modern borders, as set out by the IAU, pushes back the crossing by a few centuries.

As it is now, the Sun enters the constellation Aries around the 18th or 19th of April (depending which border you use).

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The Sun also has a small wobble. Any two objects (e.g., the Earth and the Moon) actually orbit their common centre of mass. For Earth and Moon, this centre is actually located inside Earth, so that our wobble is relatively 'tiny' (still, it is over a 1000 km).

Each planet contributes a bit of mass to the solar system but the centre of mass is still very close to the Sun (just a bit outside). The main contributor is Jupiter. So the Sun, in orbit around this centre of mass, wobbles with a major period of 11 years, and all kinds of minor periods corresponding to each other planet.

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The Sun is in orbit around the Galaxy. It takes the Sun approximately 200 million years to go around. Given our present understanding of the size of our Galaxy, this corresponds to a speed of 230 km/s.

This is the speed that the Sun would have if it had the same speed as the average speed of the thousands of stars that are in our neighbourhood, and if the Sun's orbit followed the plane of the Galaxy (the middle layer of the disk).

Compared to the local stars, the Sun is moving at 19.4 km/s towards the constellation Hercules.

The Sun is presently 50 light-years "North" of the disk's centre plane. This means that the Sun's orbit actually dips up and down, through the disk, as we go around the Galactic centre. We go through the disk 8 to 10 times per orbit (every 25 million years, or so). If we go from 50 light-years north to 50 light-years south in 25 million years, then that is 2 light years per million years on average (150 m/s = 337 mph -- astronomically speaking, this is slow).

The Galaxy itself is moving through space (400 km/s towards Hydra) but we are no longer talking about movements that are proper to the Sun. So I'll stop.

Answer 5

Please make your question more clear. I am uncertain as to what your are asking.