"SUN": created by Ricardo Cernic

"SUN" is an Excel spread sheet application developed by diallist Ricardo Cernic.  I am very pleased to be able to present this excellent work at The Sundial Primer.  Thank you Ricardo for this opportunity!

"SUN"

version 5.6

Note: This version of the "SUN.xls" does not operate on Apple computers.

Ricardo has started a sundial blog site. Check out what he has and be sure to come back for more.

Ricardo's Sundial Blog Site 

"SUN" consists of six pages as follows:

• Introduction
• Ephemeris of the Sun
• Dialist
• Clock
• Equation of Time
• Interface Language

INTRODUCTION

Please read this page as it gives background information about the application and how to contact Ricardo if you have any comments or suggestions.  If you like "SUN" write and tell Ricardo.

EPHEMERIS OF THE SUN

"SUN" has a friendly user interface as illustrated in Figure 1.

The following information can be modified by entering new values:

• Date: day / month / year
• Local time: hours / minutes / seconds
• Latitude: degrees / minutes (seconds are entered as any number of decimal minutes)
• Longitude: degrees / minutes (seconds are entered as any number of decimal minutes)

The following information can be modified by selecting new values:

• Latitude: North or South
• Longitude: East or West
• Time zone: -11 to 11 in increments of 1
• DST: 0, 1, 2

Left click in the cell you wish to change and a small arrow will appear.  Select the arrow and a drop down list will appear that shows all the selections.  Just pick the one you want.

There is also an "Interface Language" drop down list.

Figure 1: Ephemeris of the Sun

There are also 4 control buttons that perform the following functions:

• Start: will cause the application to operate and update all the data in real time. It is operating just like a clock.

• Stop: will cause the application to cease operating in real time. In this state any of the information inputs listed above can be changed. All the data outputs will be recalculated and displayed as the changes are made.

• Now: will cause the application to reset to the present "Date" and "Local time".

• Coordinates: will bring up a window as shown in Figure 2 that allows you to enter date, time and location information. This button is available on all the screens.

Figure 2: Input Information Window

DIALIST

Here you will find information useful to the diallist as illustrated in Figure 3.  The 3 control buttons operate as described above.

Figure 3: Dialist

CLOCK

This page has 3 clocks! Each clock can be set to show one of the following times:

• Local Time

• Sundial Time

• Italian Hours

• Babylonian Hours

• Temporal Hours

• Sidereal Hours

• UT

EQUATION OF TIME

This page presents a table of the Equation of Time as illustrated in Figure 3. The year can be changed and the table will automatically be updated.

Figure 5: Equation of Time

INTERFACE LANGUAGE

This page lists all the terms used in the application and provides the following columns:

• Português (BR)

• English

• Español

• Français

• Nederlands

• Český

• Language 3

Not all the terms have been translated but you can help.  There is 1 additional column where another translation can be entered.