Real-time solar irradiance and position analysis

Full Description & Function Guide

Down loaded version will provide the full details.

What It Is

A self-contained, client-side web application that calculates real-time solar radiation parameters for any point on Earth. It uses pure astronomy math — no external APIs, no servers. Every computation runs in your browser using the date, time, geographic coordinates, and timezone you provide.

 

****How to Run

Save it in your disk and double click. File will run

 

Core Solar Mathematics

The engine implements the standard solar position algorithm:

 

1. Day of Year (N): Converts the selected date into a day number (1–366) used by all subsequent formulas.
2. Solar Declination (δ): δ = 23.45° × sin(360/365 × (284 + N)) — The latitude on Earth where the sun is directly overhead. Varies between +23.45° (June solstice) and −23.45° (December solstice).
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Six Gauge Metrics

Each gauge is a 270° SVG arc that animates to show the current value:

 

Gauge	What It Measures	Max Scale	Meaning
DNI	Direct beam radiation on a sun-facing surface	1200 W/m²	Maximum concentratable solar power. Peak ~1000 W/m² clear sky
GHI	Total radiation on a flat horizontal surface	1200 W/m²	What a rooftop solar panel actually receives

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Each gauge has a ? tooltip — hover to read a plain-English definition of that metric.

 

Four Info Pills

Compact readouts below the gauges:

• Azimuth: Compass direction of the sun (e.g., "142° SE")

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UV Radiation Timeline

A full 24-hour chart drawn on an HTML Canvas showing:

• X-axis: Time from 00:00 to 24:00 in 3-hour intervals

 

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Solar Path Sky Map

A polar projection canvas showing the sun's arc across the sky:

• Center = zenith (90° elevation), edge = horizon (0° elevation)
• 8 compass directions labeled around the perimeter

 

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Sun Times Panel

• Sunrise time (orange), Solar Noon (gold), Sunset (red)

 

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Solar Effects Panel

Six context-aware cards that change based on conditions:

 

1. Sun Position Status: Golden Hour / Low-Mid Sun / High Sun / Near Zenith / Below Horizon (with twilight stage)

 

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Interactive Map

Powered by Leaflet.js with CARTO dark basemap tiles:

• Click anywhere on the map to set that location — all calculations update instantly
• Drag the pulsing amber marker to reposition

 

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Solar Flux Display (Heatmap Button)

The red "Solar Flux Display" button toggles a real-time GHI heatmap overlay on the map:

 

How it works:

1. When activated, it reads the current map viewport bounds
2. Creates a 100×70 pixel off-screen canvas

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Behavior:

• Regenerates on pan/zoom — the moveend event triggers a fresh calculation for the new viewport

 

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• Understand how latitude affects available solar power

 

Location Input & Presets

Manual input: Latitude (−90 to 90) and Longitude (−180 to 180) number fields with validation. Changing either flies the map to the new coordinates.

 

Timezone selector: Dropdown from UTC−12 to UTC+14. Critical for correct sunrise/sunset times — a location's solar behavior depends on its timezone offset from the standard meridian.

 

8 preset locations for quick exploration:

• New York (40.7°N) — Temperate, four-season solar variation
• London (51.5°N) — High latitude, very short winter days
• Tokyo (35.7°N) — Moderate latitude, humid subtropical
• Sydney (−33.9°S) — Southern hemisphere, seasons flipped
• Sahara (23.4°N) — Near Tropic of Cancer, near-maximum irradiance
• Reykjavik (64.1°N) — Subarctic, extreme summer/winter day length contrast
• Equator (0°) — Tropical, ~12h daylight year-round, sun passes near zenith
• McMurdo (−77.8°S) — Antarctic, polar day/night conditions

 

Time Controls

• Date picker: Select any date to see solar conditions on that day

 

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Dynamic Atmosphere Background

A full-screen fixed radial gradient behind all content that shifts based on solar elevation:

• Night (below −6°): Deep dark blue-black

 

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Technical Architecture

• Zero dependencies beyond CDN libraries: Tailwind CSS (styling), Leaflet (map), Google Fonts (typography), Font Awesome (icons)

 

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