Unit-1 Lecture On Solar Geometry

Solar Energy
Dr Neeraj Mishra
Department of mechanical Engineering
MITS Gwalior
The sun
• The sun is a sphere of intensely hot gaseous matter with a

diameter of 1.39 × 10^9 m
• the average, 1.5 × 10^11 m from the earth.
• As seen from the earth, the sun rotates on its axis about once
every 4 weeks.
• However, it does not rotate as a solid body; the equator takes
about 27 days and the polar regions take about 30 days for
each rotation.
• The sun has an effective blackbody temperature of 5777 K.
• The temperature in the central interior regions is variously
estimated at 8 × 106 to 40 × 106 K
• The density is estimated to be about 100 times that of water.
• The sun is, in effect, a continuous fusion reactor with its
constituent gases as the ‘‘containing vessel’’ retained by
gravitational forces.
• Several fusion reactions have been suggested to supply the energy
radiated by the sun.
• The one considered the most important is a process in which
hydrogen (i.e., four protons) combines to form helium (i.e., one
helium nucleus); the mass of the helium nucleus is less than that
of the four protons, mass having been lost in the reaction and
converted to energy.
Sun–Earth Geometric Relationship
The amount and intensity of solar radiation reaching the
Earth’s surface depends on the geometric relationship of the
Earth with respect to the Sun. Figure 2.1 shows this geometric
relationship and its effects for different seasons in both
hemispheres.
The position of the Sun, at any moment at any place on Earth,
can be estimated by two types of calculations: first, by simple
equations where the inputs are the day of the year, time,
latitude, and longitude, and, secondly, by calculations through
complex algorithms providing the exact position of the Sun.
2.2.2 Apparent Path of the Sun
The Earth rotates at an approximately constant rate on its axis once in
about 24 hours.
• Such rotation in the eastward direction gives the sense that the Sun
moves in the opposite direction.
The so-called ecliptic is the apparent path that the Sun traces out in the
sky while it goes from east to west during the day.
• The plane of the ecliptic is the geometric plane containing the mean
orbit of the Earth around the Sun.
• Due to the overall interacting forces among the planets, the Sun is
not always exactly in such a plane, but rather, may be some arc
seconds out of it.
2.2.3 Earth and Celestial Coordinate Systems
Any location on Earth is described by two angles, latitude (Ø) and
longitude (𝜆). Figure 2.3 sketches the Earth coordinate system indicating
the latitude and longitude constant lines.
The latitude corresponds to the elevation angle between a hypothetical
line from the center of Earth to any point on the surface and its projection
on the equator plane.
• Latitude values fall between 90° < Ø < –90°; latitude is zero at the
equator, 90° at the northern pole, and –90° at the southern pole.
The longitude angle, imaginary lines extended from pole to pole are
called meridians; these lines are at constant longitude.
• For each meridian crossing the equator’s circle, there is an angle
assigned.
• The meridian passing through the old Royal Astronomical Observatory in
Greenwich, England, is the one chosen as zero longitude and known as the
Prime Meridian.
• 180° east of the Prime Meridian and 180° west (or –180°). For a particular
location, the imaginary line that divides the sky in two and passes directly
overhead is then the location’s meridian.
• The abbreviations a.m. and p.m. come
from the terms ante meridian and post
meridian, respectively.
The celestial sphere is a hypothetical sphere of infinite radius
whose center is the Earth and on which the stars are projected.
This concept is used to measure the position of stars in terms of
angles, independently of their distances.
• The north and south celestial poles of the celestial sphere are
aligned with the northern and southern poles of the Earth.
• The celestial equator lies in the same plane as the Earth’s
equator does.
• Analogous to the longitude on Earth, the right ascension angle
(χ) of an object on the celestial sphere is measured eastward
along the celestial equator;
• lines of constant right ascension run from one celestial pole to
the other, defining χ = 0° for the March equinox—the place
where the Sun is positioned directly over Earth’s equator.
2.2.4 Position of the Sun with Respect to a Horizontal
Surface
In addition to the fixed celestial coordinate systems on the sky, to
describe the Sun’s position with respect to a horizontal surface on
Earth at any time, other angles based on the Earth’s coordinates need
to be understood:
solar altitude (αs),
zenith (θz),
solar azimuth (γs),
and hour (ω) angles.
Figure 2.5 presents the geometric relationships among these angles to determine
the position of the Sun in the sky at any time.
The solar altitude is measured in degrees from the horizon of the projection of the
radiation beam to the position of the Sun. When the Sun is over the horizon, αs = 0°
and when it is directly overhead, αs = 90°.
In most latitudes, the Sun will never be directly overhead; that only happens within
the tropics. Because the zenith is the point directly overhead and 90° away

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Solar Energy

• The sun is a sphere of intensely hot gaseous matter with a

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