Light and Dark
The Moon's cycle above the line; the year's below it. Today is where they meet.
Thickness of the coloured area inside the rim band shows how many hours of daylight you receive. Colour within the daylight band shows average daily high temperature relative to that location's annual average - toggle Global to show temperature relative to global temperatures. Shades of grey towards the centre show the stages of twilight. Toggle Timeline to pin festivals and new/full moons to the line.
Left: bird's-eye view of Earth's orbit; the dot is where we are today. Right: how sunlight falls on Earth.
Earth's tilt doesn't change through the year - only our position along the orbital path changes relative to the Sun. The orbit is only slightly elliptical; it's near-circular. It's not distance from the Sun, but the angle of sunlight caused by the tilt which is the dominant factor in determining seasons, increasing intensity (concentration of energy) and duration (length of daylight). Try it yourself by walking around a light (Sun), and holding a ball (Earth) always tilted toward to the same corner of the room.
Try locations near the poles to see extreme shifts, or near the equator to see how consistency reduces seasonal patterns - and why the wheel of the year holds less importance there.
Rate of change
These peaks are not the longest day or the hottest day - they are the days with the fastest rate of change.
The daylight line shows relative growth rate (not absolute minutes gained). The heat line shows daily change in temperature as a share of the year's full swing.
The daylight curve peaks well before the equinox where a few extra minutes feels bigger when the day is still short. The temperature curve peaks weeks later, once the ground and sea have caught up with the Sun. The gap between them is the thermal lag of temperate spring and autumn. Local weather patterns have a stronger effect on temperature in some locations.
The sky right now
A 360° panorama of your sky, unrolled. Facing the equator down the middle, pole behind you (at both edges), horizon slicing across.
Sun and Moon sit at their real altitude and azimuth for your location; behind them, a faint figure-8 traces where the Sun stands at mean clock noon across the whole year. Toggle Noon and drag the Days slider to follow the path, and you'll also see it move through the chart below.
The offset of the analemma is the equation of time - Earth's elliptical orbit and axial tilt push true solar noon ahead or behind mean clock noon over the year. Positive minutes mean the sundial reads ahead of the clock; negative, behind.