Sun & Shade Planner
Where the sun rises, how high it climbs, when it sets, and which way your shadows fall, traced for your exact spot on any day of the year. Plan a garden bed, a patio, or a panel by the light it will actually get. Computed in your browser, saved to nothing.
Set your place above to trace the sun for your latitude.
Reading the sun path
The curve plots the sun’s elevation, its height above the horizon, against its compass direction through a single day. In summer the arc is tall and wide, the sun rising in the northeast and setting in the northwest. In winter it is low and short, hugging the southern sky. Where the curve meets the ground line is your sunrise and sunset; its peak is solar noon. A spot that sits in the sun’s summer path but falls below a winter arc gets sun for part of the year only, which is exactly what a vegetable bed, a patio, or a solar panel cares about.
Times are computed from the standard NOAA solar-position equations for your latitude and longitude, and shown in your device’s local time. Sunrise and sunset include the usual allowance for atmospheric refraction. Treat them as accurate to about a minute for a clear flat horizon; hills and buildings move the real moment.