<p>Your compass diagram looks correct to me.</p>
<p>The Sun won't be in <em>exactly</em> the same spot from year to year, but it will be <em>very</em> close. The main cause of the variation is just the leap year cycle.</p>
<p>Fred Espenak, aka Mr Eclipse, maintains an excellent website dedicated to eclipses, <a href="https://eclipsewise.com/" rel="noreferrer">https://eclipsewise.com/</a> Fred did the eclipse calculations for NASA GSFC for several decades, until his retirement a few years ago. Here's his page for the total eclipse of <a href="https://eclipsewise.com/solar/SEprime/2001-2100/SE2026Aug12Tprime.html" rel="noreferrer">2026-Aug-12</a></p>
<p>According to Fred's data, the maximum eclipse at your location occurs at 18:29:46 UTC, but that time is probably ~3 seconds fast, because Fred's calculations (performed a decade ago) slightly overestimate the number of leap seconds. The duration of totality is ~1m42s.</p>
<p>Anyway, I fed Fred's time into JPL <a href="https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons/" rel="noreferrer">Horizons</a> to get the azimuth &amp; elevation angle data for Aug 12 and Aug 15 of this year, and Aug 12 for 2026.</p>
<p>Here's the <a href="https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/api/horizons.api?format=text&amp;COMMAND=10&amp;CENTER=coord%40399&amp;SITE_COORD=%27-2.739932%2C41.900188%2C1.1%27&amp;TLIST=%272024-Aug-12+18%3A29%3A46%27%5Cn%272024-Aug-15+18%3A29%3A46%27%5Cn%272026-Aug-12+18%3A29%3A46%27&amp;QUANTITIES=4&amp;APPARENT=REFRACTED&amp;OBJ_DATA=NO" rel="noreferrer">query URL</a>, and here's an excerpt of the output.</p>
<pre><code> Date__(UT)__HR:MN:SC.fff     Azi____(r-app)___Elev
***************************************************
<span class="math-container">$$SOE
 2024-Aug-12 18:29:46.000 *m  283.245645   7.314125
 2024-Aug-15 18:29:46.000 *m  282.637850   6.602530
 2026-Aug-12 18:29:46.000 *m  283.341201   7.425210
$$</span>EOE
</code></pre>
<p>The Sun's angular diameter is ~0.5°. More precisely, at that time of year, it's ~1894 arcsecs.</p>
<p>Here's a <a href="https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/api/horizons.api?format=text&amp;COMMAND=10&amp;CENTER=coord%40399&amp;SITE_COORD=%27-2.739932%2C41.900188%2C1.1%27&amp;START_TIME=%272026-Aug-12+18%3A20%27&amp;STOP_TIME=%272026-Aug-12+18%3A40%27&amp;STEP_SIZE=5m&amp;QUANTITIES=4&amp;APPARENT=REFRACTED&amp;OBJ_DATA=NO" rel="noreferrer">query URL</a> for times around the eclipse.</p>
<pre><code> Date__(UT)__HR:MN     Azi____(r-app)___Elev
********************************************
<span class="math-container">$$SOE
 2026-Aug-12 18:20 *m  281.768708   9.180065
 2026-Aug-12 18:25 *m  282.573050   8.279427
 2026-Aug-12 18:30 *m  283.378843   7.383516
 2026-Aug-12 18:35 *m  284.186474   6.493100
 2026-Aug-12 18:40 *m  284.996327   5.609198
$$</span>EOE
</code></pre>
<p>The above data uses a simple model to estimate the effects of refraction on the apparent position of celestial bodies. But the actual amount of refraction depends on the weather, especially when the body is near the horizon.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-15T15:45:46.833Z
2024-08-15T15:45:46.833Z
PM 2Ring
<p>Scout Leader here, so I'm no expert on the Solar System, hence the need for some friendly advice please.</p>
<p>I'd like to organise a camp on August 12th in Soria, Spain (<a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/CnFGamkFwY5mowK88" rel="noreferrer">specifically here</a>) to take around 100 young people to witness a total eclipse of the sun. <a href="https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/@41.900188,-2.739932?iso=20260812" rel="noreferrer">I've done my research</a> and the eclipse happens at 20:28 in the evening on August 12th 2026 which is very close to sunset at 21:15 in the evening on that date, with an angle of elevation of 7.5º. My fear, with the sun being close to the horizon is that right when the eclipse happens the sun disappears behind an obstacle such as a hill or tree line and everybody misses it due to a preventable mistake. For this reason, I've chosen the location above, looking along water in the direction of the eclipse to minimise this risk.</p>
<p>I've visited the site already in April this year and determined that the eclipse will be visible, below is an image with a compass app that shows the area of sky where the sun will on this date, with the angle of elevation in the center. ( The green arrow is where I think the sun should be).</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/kE0Y6Qlb.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/kE0Y6Qlb.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>
<p>To be extra sure, I was wondering if I visited this location tomorrow (August 15th), and the sun is visible at 20:28 in evening from this location, would this be cast iron proof that in two years, provided it isn't cloudy, the sun will be in exactly the same place and visible?</p>
<p>I'm aware that tomorrow is the 15th of August, not the 12th, but have also reasoned that as I'm in the Northern hemisphere, the sun would have been slightly higher at the same time of day two days ago.</p>
<p>So my question, given the preamble above, is:</p>
<p>If I go to a physical point on land and see the sun at a given location in the sky, will it be in exactly the same location in the sky, at the same time in the same physical place two years into the future? (For the purposes of viewing an eclipse).</p>
<p>Many thanks in advance,</p>
<p>James</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-14T17:50:20.697Z
Yes, it will be in roughly the same position.  There are variations from year to year, but will be well under a degree.  If you want to get a better idea. look up the Alt/Az of the Sun using planetarium software (like Stellarium) and compare the Alt/Az coordinates on the days you make your observation, and when the eclipse is.  They will be very close, but not exact.
Greg Miller
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-14T20:49:16.323Z
One of the delights of experiencing a solar eclipse is shadow bands. They appear just before and just after totality (at the "diamond ring" stage of the eclipse). They appear as flickering light and dark bands, similar to the patterns seen on the bottom of a swimming pool on a sunny day. They are caused by passage of  small collimated light beams through the atmosphere. I suspect because the sun is low and travelling through thick atmosphere, these bands should be particularly spectacular for you. Position yourself (and your scouts!) next to a uniform white wall for best view.
Woody
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-14T21:41:01.657Z
Standing in the middle of a field (rather than on a road that a GPS app might use from a map to assume your position) there is also some long-for term non-repeatability with GPS. Give yourself a +/- 10 meter uncertainty from that as well. But the predictions for the motion of the Sun's path in altitude and azimuth based on solar system dynamics and the rotation of the Earth will be pretty good. They are likely to be refined as the time gets close because the Earth's wobble and rotation speed is affected slightly by weather, climate, ice melts, earthquakes etc. All that will come out in answers
uhoh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-08-15T16:50:03.153Z
As with all eclipses it's important to plan other activities for the trip in case the eclipse is a bust. Especially one like this so close to the horizon where the usual tactic of final hour movements to avoid clouds will be far less effective. A good test is to ask yourself if everyone would enjoy the trip even if there were not an eclipse taking place. Probably you are already doing this, but be sure to condition the attendees with the same thinking prior to the trip, still expressing hopefulness and a sense of excitement, but tempered with the reality that there is some luck involved.
Steve Pemberton
<the-sun><solar-system><solar-eclipse>
Can I Check the Suns Position Relative to Earth For an Eclipse by Going Two Years Early?
James Scott
# Can I Check the Suns Position Relative to Earth For an Eclipse by Going Two Years Early?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-08-14)

Scout Leader here, so I'm no expert on the Solar System, hence the need for some friendly advice please.

I'd like to organise a camp on August 12th in Soria, Spain ([specifically here](https://maps.app.goo.gl/CnFGamkFwY5mowK88)) to take around 100 young people to witness a total eclipse of the sun. [I've done my research](https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/@41.900188,-2.739932?iso=20260812) and the eclipse happens at 20:28 in the evening on August 12th 2026 which is very close to sunset at 21:15 in the evening on that date, with an angle of elevation of 7.5º. My fear, with the sun being close to the horizon is that right when the eclipse happens the sun disappears behind an obstacle such as a hill or tree line and everybody misses it due to a preventable mistake. For this reason, I've chosen the location above, looking along water in the direction of the eclipse to minimise this risk.

I've visited the site already in April this year and determined that the eclipse will be visible, below is an image with a compass app that shows the area of sky where the sun will on this date, with the angle of elevation in the center. ( The green arrow is where I think the sun should be).

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/kE0Y6Qlb.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/kE0Y6Qlb.png)

To be extra sure, I was wondering if I visited this location tomorrow (August 15th), and the sun is visible at 20:28 in evening from this location, would this be cast iron proof that in two years, provided it isn't cloudy, the sun will be in exactly the same place and visible?

I'm aware that tomorrow is the 15th of August, not the 12th, but have also reasoned that as I'm in the Northern hemisphere, the sun would have been slightly higher at the same time of day two days ago.

So my question, given the preamble above, is:

If I go to a physical point on land and see the sun at a given location in the sky, will it be in exactly the same location in the sky, at the same time in the same physical place two years into the future? (For the purposes of viewing an eclipse).

Many thanks in advance,

James

**Tags:** the-sun, solar-system, solar-eclipse

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Yes, it will be in roughly the same position.  There are variations from year to year, but will be well under a degree.  If you want to get a better idea. look up the Alt/Az of the Sun using planetarium software (like Stellarium) and compare the Alt/Az coordinates on the days you make your observation, and when the eclipse is.  They will be very close, but not exact.  
> **username_2**: One of the delights of experiencing a solar eclipse is shadow bands. They appear just before and just after totality (at the "diamond ring" stage of the eclipse). They appear as flickering light and dark bands, similar to the patterns seen on the bottom of a swimming pool on a sunny day. They are caused by passage of  small collimated light beams through the atmosphere. I suspect because the sun is low and travelling through thick atmosphere, these bands should be particularly spectacular for you. Position yourself (and your scouts!) next to a uniform white wall for best view.  
> **username_3**: Standing in the middle of a field (rather than on a road that a GPS app might use from a map to assume your position) there is also some long-for term non-repeatability with GPS. Give yourself a +/- 10 meter uncertainty from that as well. But the predictions for the motion of the Sun's path in altitude and azimuth based on solar system dynamics and the rotation of the Earth will be pretty good. They are likely to be refined as the time gets close because the Earth's wobble and rotation speed is affected slightly by weather, climate, ice melts, earthquakes etc. All that will come out in answers  
> **username_4**: As with all eclipses it's important to plan other activities for the trip in case the eclipse is a bust. Especially one like this so close to the horizon where the usual tactic of final hour movements to avoid clouds will be far less effective. A good test is to ask yourself if everyone would enjoy the trip even if there were not an eclipse taking place. Probably you are already doing this, but be sure to condition the attendees with the same thinking prior to the trip, still expressing hopefulness and a sense of excitement, but tempered with the reality that there is some luck involved.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2024-08-15. Score: 6 | Accepted answer

Your compass diagram looks correct to me.
The Sun won't be in exactly the same spot from year to year, but it will be very close. The main cause of the variation is just the leap year cycle.
Fred Espenak, aka Mr Eclipse, maintains an excellent website dedicated to eclipses, https://eclipsewise.com/ Fred did the eclipse calculations for NASA GSFC for several decades, until his retirement a few years ago. Here's his page for the total eclipse of 2026-Aug-12
According to Fred's data, the maximum eclipse at your location occurs at 18:29:46 UTC, but that time is probably ~3 seconds fast, because Fred's calculations (performed a decade ago) slightly overestimate the number of leap seconds. The duration of totality is ~1m42s.
Anyway, I fed Fred's time into JPL Horizons to get the azimuth & elevation angle data for Aug 12 and Aug 15 of this year, and Aug 12 for 2026.
Here's the query URL, and here's an excerpt of the output.
 Date__(UT)__HR:MN:SC.fff     Azi____(r-app)___Elev
***************************************************
$$SOE
 2024-Aug-12 18:29:46.000 *m  283.245645   7.314125
 2024-Aug-15 18:29:46.000 *m  282.637850   6.602530
 2026-Aug-12 18:29:46.000 *m  283.341201   7.425210
$$EOE

The Sun's angular diameter is ~0.5°. More precisely, at that time of year, it's ~1894 arcsecs.
Here's a query URL for times around the eclipse.
 Date__(UT)__HR:MN     Azi____(r-app)___Elev
********************************************
$$SOE
 2026-Aug-12 18:20 *m  281.768708   9.180065
 2026-Aug-12 18:25 *m  282.573050   8.279427
 2026-Aug-12 18:30 *m  283.378843   7.383516
 2026-Aug-12 18:35 *m  284.186474   6.493100
 2026-Aug-12 18:40 *m  284.996327   5.609198
$$EOE

The above data uses a simple model to estimate the effects of refraction on the apparent position of celestial bodies. But the actual amount of refraction depends on the weather, especially when the body is near the horizon.


---

