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Posted by: simonbp May 27 2008, 03:17 AM

I got bored the other day and made this, and thought I might share it. It's a Mars Sundial, displaying MTC, Ls, Local Solar Mean Time (LSMT), and solar elevation for each of the active surface missions. It's based on the Mars 24 algorithm given http://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/mars24/help/algorithm.html.

To install onto iGoogle, click on "add stuff", and then "add feed or gadget" down in the left-hand corner, and copy the following URL in:

http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/108711613412433434334/MarsSundial.xml

There's also a standalone version here: http://www.public.asu.edu/~sbporter/MarsSundial.html

Enjoy!

Simon

Posted by: ahecht May 28 2008, 03:02 PM

Great work. Here is a better way to link to it so that people don't have to copy and paste (it will bring you to a thumbnail page):
http://www.google.com/ig/adde?hl=en&moduleurl=hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/108711613412433434334/MarsSundial.xml

Posted by: elakdawalla May 28 2008, 04:29 PM

This is very, very cool. I don't suppose you could possibly add sol numbers to it?

--Emily

Posted by: simonbp May 28 2008, 05:48 PM

Good idea, I'll add that. Just to make sure I'm not crazy, MER started on "Sol 1", but Phoenix was "Sol 0"?

OK, new standalone version here: http://www.public.asu.edu/~sbporter/MarsSundial2.1.html

And I tried to update the Google version, but it didn't appear to work; I'll give a little while to see if the database will cycle through... At any rate, here's the direct link to the new version:

http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/108711613412433434334/MarsSundial.xml

Simon

Posted by: jmknapp May 29 2008, 02:47 AM

I was looking at the sun elevation throughout the day at the Phoenix site & currently it seems to stay at about 25 degrees within a fraction of a degree all around. Is that right? Probably a bug I guess.

Posted by: elakdawalla May 29 2008, 04:11 AM

Works fine for me! You're fast. Only thing is on my browser (IE 7 on Win XP), the bottom line of text is cut off:

--Emily

Posted by: jmknapp May 29 2008, 09:19 AM

The gadget works fine here, although I also see the last line cut off in IE7.

Posted by: rlorenz May 29 2008, 09:43 PM

Don't forget about the GISS Mars 24 sunclock

http://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/mars24/

(there is also a Titan 24)

Posted by: AndyG May 30 2008, 09:23 AM

Must be - you'd only get that sun-at-the-same-height effect at a pole, or with 90 deg axial tilt.

For a feel of how the sun's path changes for a planet, depending on latitude, time of day and axial tilt, I wrote this some time ago:

http://personal.strath.ac.uk/andrew.goddard/ring.swf

For Mars, ignore the presence of rings.

For Swedes, don't ignore the Swedish option.

Andy