Sun Set

Date: 2/05/11 Time: 4:40pm

Date: 2/19/11 Time: 5:03pm

Date: 3/10/11 Time: 5:47pm

Date: 3/24/11 time: 6:53pm

Date: 4/09/11 time: 7:14pm

Date: 5/01/11 time: 7:35pm

Ans: When one is observing from a fixed location on Earth, in this case Mount Prospect (42.0365°N 87.9366°W), the person will see that the Sun’s position changes from day to day as the Earth revolves in its orbit. As the seasons change from winter to summer in the northern hemisphere, the azimuth of the Sun when measured at sunset slowly progresses towards the north, as shown in this diagram

Before this experiment began, I predicted that my observations would empirically model this behavior. As the seasons progress from winter to summer, the Sun should set at a progressively northern azimuth.

Table 1 Data Table

Date | Obs. Time (CST) | Sunset time (CST) | Sunrise time (CST) | Altitude | Azimuth |

2/5/2011 | 4:40 PM | 5:12 PM | 7:01 AM | 4.7 | 243.94 |

2/19/2011 | 5:03 PM | 5:29 PM | 6:42 AM | 4.05 | 251.25 |

3/10/2011 | 5:47 PM | 5:52 PM | 6:13 AM | 0.6 | 264.56 |

3/24/2011 | 6:53 PM | 7:08 PM | 6:49 AM | 2.27 | 270.34 |

4/9/2011 | 7:14 PM | 7:26 PM | 6:21 AM | 1.69 | 279.2 |

5/1/2011 | 7:35 PM |...