AstroGrav Help /Sample Simulations /Solar System /Viewpoints /Solar AnalemmaVersion 5.1

Solar Analemma

This simulation illustrates a solar analemma, as detailed in the Wikipedia article at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analemma

The corresponding paths for Mercury and Venus are also shown. These curves are the paths formed by the motions of the objects at one day intervals when viewed from a particular location at local noon. The Sun's analemma repeats annually, whereas the paths of Mercury and Venus are irregular. Reykjavik was chosen as the viewpoint because its northerly location allows the horizon, Sun's analemma, and paths of Mercury and Venus to all be visible without using too large a field of view.

You can set the simulation running to see the evolving tracks of the Sun, Mercury, and Venus. You can also change the viewpoint to anywhere in the world, and change the time to any desired time of the day. Since different computers run at different speeds, you may need to edit the evolution time step to get the simulation to run at an acceptable rate.