In the book, I said I would provide a table of sun positions through the seasons on the companion website. While preparing the website, I realized that such a table is impractical for a number of reasons. It would be different for every city and varies over the years. Instead, a calculator would be more appropriate. I can't program that, but several people on the web have, so below are links to several different sun position calculators.
When using these, remember that Vue uses the term Pitch for Altitude or Elevation, which are the terms used in astronomy and the calculators linked here. Azimuth remains the same for both.
Sun Position Calculation - http://www.volker-quaschning.de/datserv/sunpos/index_e.html This one lets you choose the algorithm the sun's position is calculated with. It also has the cool ability to show the sun's position as it changes in real time if you press on the System Time button and then Start.
Sun, Moon, and Earth Applet - http://www.jgiesen.de/SME/ This one also calculates the position of the moon. If you want to use that calculation to place your moon, move the sun there first in Vue's Atmosphere Editor, then manually move the moon where the sun is located in the Open GL views. After that you can move the sun where you want it.
Sun Calculator - http://pvcdrom.pveducation.org/SUNLIGHT/SUNCALC.HTM This one is remarkable for how well it visually shows the position of the sun from a top view. However, you can't input location by any city at all, but instead must use altitude and longitude.
SunPosition Calculator - http://sunposition.info/sunposition/index.php This calculator was developed for photographers and filmmakers. It will give you the sun's position over the course of a whole day, in a table and displayed graphically. Here, there is no altitude or longitude input, only cities and locations.
Sun & Moon Position Calculator - http://www.satellite-calculations.com/Satellite/suncalc.htm This one also shows you the moon's position and has quite a few other interesting numbers as well.
If for any chance any of these links don't work, please contact us so we can fix the page. Also, if you know of a good one out there that you like or maybe because you created it :) please let us know so we can add it.
Have fun!
