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Solar Declination

Solar Declination is a measure of how many degrees North (positive) or South (negative) of the equator that the sun is when viewed from the centre of the earth.  This varies from approximately +23.5 (North) in June to -23.5 (South) in December.

The graph below shows how solar declination varies through out the year.

Coordinate System

Declination is a measure in an equatorial coordinate system.  The Equatorial Coordinate system uses the world itself as it's axes.  The centre of the earth is the origin.  The other coordinate in the equatorial system is Hour Angle.

Calculate it!

The Sun API provides the sdxDecl function to calculate Solar Declination.  The sdxFindAnnFeatx function calculates the time of annual minimum, maximum and zero crossings of Declination.