Re

eadin
ng Sun Patth Dia
agram
ms
Sun
n path d
diagramss can tell you a lot about how th
he sun will
w impact your site
s
and
d buildin
ng throu
ughout the
t
year. Stereog
graphic sun path diagra
ams can be
use
ed to rea
ad the so
olar azimuth and altitude for a givven locattion.
H
How
to rea
ad Sunpath
h Diagram
ms
Att 9am...

on
n April 1...
th
he azimuth is 62o
th
he altitude is 30o

Stereogrraphic Sun Pa
ath Dia
agramss

Sterreographicc sun path diagrams are used to

t read the solar azimuth and altitude th
hroughoutt the
dayy and year for a give
en position
n on the ea
arth. They can be likkened to a photograph of the sky,
take
en looking
g straight up
u towards the zenith, with a 180 fish--eye lens. The
T paths of the sun at
different time
es of the ye
ear can then be projjected onto this flatttened hem
misphere fo
or any loca
ation
on Earth.
Notte that these stereog
graphic diagrams are not exactly like a fish
h-eye photto: such an
n image wo
ould
be flipped
f
leftt-to-right. These dia
agrams are
e from the point of viiew of the sky looking down att the
ground, you can
c superim
mpose it on
o a map or
o a plan of
o the build
ding withou
ut being co
onfused. (You
(
can see this by following
g the hour lines from
m east to we
est on the diagram.)
Azimuth Lines
L
- Azimuth angles run around the ed
dge of the diagram.
Altitude L
Lines - Altittude angle
es are repre
esented ass concentric circular dotted
d
lines that run
from the center
c
of th
he diagram
m out.
Da
ate Lines - Date liness start on the
t eastern
n side of th
he graph an
nd run to the
t western
n side and
represent the path of the
t sun on one particcular day o
of the year. In Ecotectt, the first day
d of Janu
uary
to
o June are sshown as solid
s
lines, while July to Decemb
ber are sho
own as dottted lines.
Hour Line
es/ Analem
mma - Hou
ur lines are shown as figure-eight-type lines that intersect the
date lines and repressent the po
osition of the
t sun at a specific hour
h
of the
e day. The intersectio
on
points between date
e and hour lines give the positio
on of the sun.
Rea
ading the S
Sun Position (Step-byy-Step)

Annotated sttereographic sun path

p
diagram.

1. Locate the
e required hour line on
o the diag
gram.
2. Locate the
e required date
d
line, rememberi
r
ing that so
olid are use
ed for Jan-JJune and dotted
d
liness
for July-De
ec.
3. Find the in
ntersection
n point of the hour an
nd date line
es. Remem
mber to inte
ersect solid
d with solid
d
and dotted
d with dottted lines.
4. Draw a line
e from the
e very cente
er of the diagram, through the intersectio
on point, out to the
perimeter of the diag
gram.
5. Read the a
azimuth as an angle taken
t
clockkwise from
m north. In this
t
case, the
t value iss about 62.
6. Trace a concentric circle around
d from the
e intersectio
on point to
o the verticcal north axis, on whiich
is displaye
ed the altitu
ude angless.
7. Interpolate
e between the concentric circle
e lines to fin
nd the altittude. In thiis case the intersectio
on
point sits e
exactly on the 30 lin
ne.
8. This gives the positio
on of the sun, fully de
efined as an
a azimuth and altitude.

Sun ch
harts illustrating th
he variation in the suns movement in
i relation to latitu
ude.

More informa
ation on sun path diagrams, including oth
her graphiccal forms likke Cylindrical Diagrams,
can be found on the Eco
otect Natural Frequen
ncy Wiki.
Su
un Path Pro
ojections
Re
eading Sun
n Positions
The
e articles on
n passive heating,
h
co
ooling, and daylightin
ng will desccribe how to
t design for
f bringing
the sun's heatt and light into the building at some
s
time
es and keep
ping it out at other times.