When viewing the AR display, Insolation shows four different representations of where the sun will lie in the sky. These are:

1. Position - where the sun is at a particular moment in time, e.g. 11:39am on 12 April
2. Path - the path of the sun through the day for a particular date, e.g. from sunrise to sunset on 12 April
3. Band - the area in which the sun may appear over multiple days, e.g. for the month of April
4. Slice - a 'cut' through one or more bands, showing where the sun will be during a particular hour of the day, but calculated for multiple months or seasons, e.g. from 3-4pm across the seasons of the year

Position vs. Path vs. Band

The diagram below shows the difference between Position, Path, and Band:

Slices

A slice is the particular area of one or more bands corresponding to a particular period of the day, e.g. from 3-4pm across the months or seasons:

You might be wondering what the odd-looking kink is, where the slices are suddenly offset from one another. That corresponds to changes in daylight saving time, i.e. when the clocks go forward or backward. For example, all of a sudden, what we called 3:30pm yesterday is now 4:30pm. As a result, the area of the sky where the sun can be found from 3-4pm has shifted.

However, our habits and routines tend to stick with clock time, e.g. afternoon tea at 4pm. You can view the appropriate 'slice' to see whether or not you can continue enjoy afternoon tea in the shade at the appointed hour.

Months and Seasons

The sun climbs higher in the sky as we approach midsummer, and then sinks lower again as we move into winter - i.e. it moves back and forth with the seasons.

As a consequence, if Insolation were to show bands for the full year, they would overlap and appear visually confusing. For example, April and September would overlap the same (but not exactly the same) area of the sky.

For that reason, we only show one half of the 'solar year' at a time - either from mid-summer to mid-winter, or from mid-winter to mid-summer. Which half is shown depends on the date you have selected in the app. E.g. for northern hemisphere users, if you choose a date between the winter solstice (~Dec 21) and the summer solstice (~Jun 21), then the app shows the seasons from mid-winter to mid-summer, passing through spring.

By default, when bands are shown (i.e. when both time of day and date are OFF in the chart controls), the app displays bands for the appropriate seasons. If you select a particular month in the chart, the display shows a band for each month (i.e. Dec - Jun or Jun to Dec).