General:
The SunMap utility is an
Internet based CGI (Common Gateway Interface) application that modifies (on-the-fly) a
PNG image of the Earth to display the current sub-solar position, day/night terminator
and standard time zone values. When the solar declination value is greater than zero
(the Sun is above the Equator) the standard time zone values are displayed (in red) along the
top of the map and are positively offset by one hour. The time values displayed along the bottom
of the map are in yellow and are not offset. The opposite is true when the sun is below the Equator,
i.e., the positively offset time values (in red) are displayed along the bottom and the non-offset
time values (in yellow) are displayed along the top. The Equator and Prime Meridian lines are drawn
for reference. A table of current data values is also generated and includes: Julian Day number,
Greenwich Civil Time, Greenwich Sidereal Time, Greenwich Solar Hour Angle, Equation of Time
(TA-TM), Solar Declination, Right Ascension, Ecliptic Longitude and in the spirit of Y2K recognition,
the number of days from Jan 1, 2000.
Credits:
The World Map image is in
equirectangular cylindrical projection i.e., Plate Carrée, with 80 km/pixel resolution.
The image is used by permission of ARC Science Simulations. Their image series,
Face of the Earth, both in digital and poster hard copy form, are well worth looking in to.
ARC Science Simulations phone: 800-759-1642 P.O. Box 1955 fax: 970-667-1105 Loveland, CO 80539 web: http://www.arcinc.com
