Determine the Time of Day From the Sun's Azimuth in C#
The latest release of CoordinateSharp allows users to determine the time of day based on a coordinate, date, and the azimuth of the sun. This feature can be a great tool for solar panel efficiency tracking.
//Create a coordinate and specify a date. Coordinate c = new Coordinate(49, -122, new DateTime(2023, 9, 30)); //Set local UTC offset as desired. c.Offset = -7; //Set current sun azimuth in degrees E of N double az = 120; //Determine time of day. Default azimuth accuracy error delta is 1 degree by default, //but it is set at .5 for this example. DateTime? t = Celestial.Get_Time_At_Solar_Azimuth(az, c, .5); Console.WriteLine($"{t}"); //9/30/2023 9:21:44 AM
Determining the time of day from the sun's azimuth will return a nullable DateTime value. When a null value is returned, it means the sun is either down/set (too inaccurate to reliably return a value) OR the azimuth provided did not occur within the specified date / error delta.