star-cem

Compute the position of the sun
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scem.1 (4106B)


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     15 .Dd October 17, 2025
     16 .\""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
     17 .Dt SCEM 1
     18 .Os
     19 .\""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
     20 .Sh NAME
     21 .Nm scem
     22 .Nd compute the position of the sun
     23 .\""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
     24 .Sh SYNOPSIS
     25 .Nm
     26 .Op Fl hvr
     27 .Op Fl a Ar algo
     28 .Op Fl d Ar utc_date
     29 .Ar latitude
     30 .Ar longitude
     31 .\""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
     32 .Sh DESCRIPTION
     33 .Nm
     34 computes the position of the sun relative to a given point on the Earth's
     35 surface, on a given date.
     36 .Pp
     37 The longitude of the Earth's position is between
     38 .Bq -180, 180
     39 decimal degrees relative to Greenwich.
     40 The angle is positive towards the east.
     41 The latitude of the Earth's position is between
     42 .Bq -90, 90
     43 decimal degrees relative to the equator.
     44 It is positive towards the north.
     45 .Pp
     46 On output,
     47 .Nm
     48 displays the position of the sun in zenith and azimuth on the standard
     49 output.
     50 The message is formatted as follows:
     51 .Bd -literal -offset Ds
     52 "%f %f\\n", zenith, azimuth
     53 .Ed
     54 .Pp
     55 The zenith angle is between
     56 .Bq -90, 90
     57 degrees.
     58 It defines the elevation of the sun relative to the horizon.
     59 The azimuth angle ranges from
     60 .Bq 0, 360
     61 degrees, with 0° indicating north,
     62 90° east,
     63 180° south,
     64 and 270° west.
     65 .Pp
     66 The options are as follows
     67 .Bl -tag -width Ds
     68 .\""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
     69 .It Fl a Ar algo
     70 Defines the algorithm to be used to calculate the position of the sun.
     71 By default, use the
     72 .Cm meeus
     73 algorithm.
     74 .Pp
     75 The solar position algorithms are as follows:
     76 .Bl -tag -width Ds
     77 .It Cm meeus
     78 The algorithm described in the Jean Meeus' book,
     79 .Dq Astronomical Algorithm .
     80 .It Cm psa
     81 The algorithm developed by the
     82 .Dq Plataforma Solar de Almería .
     83 .El
     84 .\""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
     85 .It Fl d Ar utc_date
     86 Date on which the position of the sun is calculated at the specified
     87 location.
     88 Must be defined in Coordinated Universal Time
     89 .Pq UTC+00:00 .
     90 By default, use the local date.
     91 .Pp
     92 The date must be in the format
     93 .Dq YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss ,
     94 i.e., as printed for the current date by the following date command:
     95 .Bd -literal -offset Ds
     96 date -u +"%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S"
     97 .Ed
     98 .\""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
     99 .It Fl h
    100 Output short help and exit.
    101 .\""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
    102 .It Fl v
    103 Make
    104 .Nm
    105 verbose.
    106 .\""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
    107 .It Fl r
    108 The solar output coordinates are defined in radians rather than degrees.
    109 .El
    110 .\""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
    111 .Sh EXIT
    112 .Ex -std
    113 .\""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
    114 .Sh EXAMPLES
    115 Calculate the position of the sun on the current date for a latitude of
    116 43.559962° east and a longitude of 1.468150° north:
    117 .Bd -literal -offset Ds
    118 scem 43.559962 1.468150
    119 .Ed
    120 .Pp
    121 Same as above, but setting the observation date to October 21, 2015, at
    122 7:28:00 a.m.:
    123 .Bd -literal -offset Ds
    124 scem -d 2015-10-21T7:28:00 43.559962 1.468150
    125 .Ed
    126 .\""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
    127 .Sh SEE ALSO
    128 .Rs
    129 .%A Jean Meeus
    130 .%B Astronomical Algorithms
    131 .%D 1991
    132 .Re
    133 .Rs
    134 .%A Manuel Blanco-Muriel
    135 .%A Diego C. Alarcón-Padilla
    136 .%A Teodoro López-Moratalla
    137 .%A Martín Lara-Coira
    138 .%T Computing the solar vector
    139 .%J Solar Energy
    140 .%V 70
    141 .%N 5
    142 .%D 2001
    143 .%P 431-441
    144 .Re