Simple Sun Clock

The SimpleSun applet is displayed here if your browser supports Java.

About SimpleSun

SimpleSun was "Rated Top 25% WebApplet" by JARS."
If you find bugs in this program (or improvements), please contact me.

SimpleSun is a simplification of my SunClock applet. It displays a map of the world showing the sunrise/sunset and twilight terminators for your location. (Well, actually, it uses the difference between your local time and GMT as an appoximation of your longitude, which means that the display may be off by about an hour, depending on where you are located within your timezone, and how badly the politicians have fiddled with timezone bounaries.)

Click here for a more elaborate (but much slower to load) applet that displays the phase of the moon and other interesting data.

Adding SimpleSun to Your Home Page

You may use SimpleSun in your personal, non-commercial, home page. In doing so, you understand that I make no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for any incidental or consequental damages in connection with or arising out of the use of the information or program.

To add SimpleSun, add the following HTML to your web page:

<applet name="SimpleSun" codebase="http://www.vmeng.com/minow/simplesun" code=SimpleSunApplet.class width=360 height=168 > <param name=bgcolor value="#FFFFFF" > The SimpleSun Applet is displayed here if your browser supports Java. </applet>

The bgcolor parameter should match your home page's background color.

Algorithm credits

The world map is distributed in the Macintosh Scrapbook and is copyright © Apple Computer Inc. Used by permission of Apple Computer Inc.
The hour chime is a recording of the Dec Mill clock tower. Dec is now known as Digital Equpment Corporation and no longer owns the Maynard mill building which, as a former millrat, I much regret.
The low-precision computation of sunrise, sunset and twilight in SunrisePixels.java was adapted from The Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac, P. Kenneth Seidelmann, Ed. ISBN 0-935702-68-7. This algorithm is also described on the USNO Time Services web page.
Astronomical utilities are from Jean Meeus. Astronomical Formulae for Calculators, Second Edition, Willmann-Bell, Inc. 1982. ISBN 0-943396-01-8; from "Practical Astronomy with Your Calculator" (3rd Edition), by Patrick Duffett-Smith ISBN 0-521-35699-7; and from "Astronomy on the Personal Computer" by Oliver Montenbruck and Thomas Pfleger. Springer Verlag 1994. ISBN 3-540-57700-9.
You can get more information (and more accurate information) about timezones, sunrise, and moonrise times from the Directorate of Time at the United States Naval Observatory.

Source Files

SimpleSunApplet.java: the applet mainline.
SimpleTimeBarCanvas.java: displays the time below the world map.
SunriseCanvas.java: display the world map image with the sunrise/sunset terminator.
SunrisePixels.java: compute sunrise/sunset times to produce the world map image showing the terminator.
DecClockTower.au: hour chime.

Copyright © 1996-1998 Martin Minow. All Rights Reserved.
World map copyright © 1992-97 Apple Computer Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.
Permission to use, copy, modify, and redistribute this software and its documentation for personal, non-commercial use is hereby granted provided that this copyright notice and appropriate documentation appears in all copies. This software may not be distributed for fee or as part of commercial, "shareware," and/or not-for-profit endevors including, but not limited to, CD-ROM collections, online databases, and subscription services without specific license. The author makes no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for any incidental or consequental damages in connection with or arising out of the use of the information or program.

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