Gordon’s Sun Clock: Setup
1. Enable the checkbox ‘Auto-locate’ to automatically update your location during use. (‘Locate 1x’ determines your current position once and stores it.) Nothing more is required for now. For higher accuracy enable ‘4. Agnihotra (GPS)’.
Alternatively, you may enter a place name or an address into the text field (if supported by your device) or coordinates (e.g. 50.94, 6.96). A 3rd and 4th entry are optional: approximate altitude [m], approximate temperature at twilight [°C]. Then enable the checkbox ‘Hide GPS notice’. When basic data are changed, Sun Clock recalculates the day.
2.‘Viewing direction’ defines whether the clock runs clockwise (south) or counter-clockwise: when changing the direction of rotation, the part of the solar circle below the horizon is positioned in front of you (details see page 3). ‘Show digital clock’ displays a digital clock at the upper right of the dial.
3. ‘Dark mode’ automatic switches at sunset, -6° at the end of twilight, +6° before. ‘Design’ selects different dials. ‘Extra margin’ increases the distance to the screen edge.
4. ‘Wall clock mode’ prevents the screen from turning off and switches to full screen. ‘Weather’ shows a forecast (internet required), from bottom to top: current temperature, daily data precipitation and sunshine hours, symbols see page 3. ‘Agnihotra’ shows markers for the sun hand as well as the time of the next zero crossing of the Sun & countdown. Six minutes before Agnihotra, the display is enlarged and seconds are shown (⁺ = GPS current).
5. Alarms for sun times can be shifted using the minute fields and set with one click (Night limit = Sun at -12°). The alarms ring only once and must be reactivated daily because the sun times change.
You can zoom into the dial with two fingers (or with triple tap). If you want to move the zoomed image, do it slowly. Fast movements swipe to the next page. If your settings are not applied at some point, tap the ⟳ button at the bottom right. With the ⬌ button you activate ‘Time Control’ (see next page).
About
This software is a private project. Please use it as it is. In principle, no personal data is collected or transmitted. No internet connection is required for operation. Details on optional features (weather display, place name resolution), error reports, and update checks can be found in the privacy policy.
If you have found an error, I will gladly correct it. For this I need a description of where and when the error occurred (possibly with a screenshot). A screenshot of the log below taken as soon as possible after the error occurred is also helpful (mail contact: @).
Thanks to: Brandon Rhodes (Skyfield), Rolf, Greg Miller and all testers. Images: NASA/ SOHO, ESA/ Hubble, NASA/ JPL-Caltech (public domain). Weather data: Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0), MET Norway (CC BY 4.0). Details: ‘design/ COPYRIGHT.txt’.
For ‘Time Control’ you can download additional ephemeris data here (and delete them again: ~17 MB, see page 3). – I provide ‘Sun Clock’ free of charge and hope you enjoy using it. If you would like to support my work, you can find my website here.
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