Hi Helmut,

Thanks for this feedback. When you send something out, you never know how it 
was received without such feedback. 

Date formats are difficult with Excel. What works on my version, 2003 Canada, 
obviously does not work on yours. Helmut Sonderegger did a lot of debugging to 
make the original spreadsheet international but copy/paste often does not carry 
forward the format. The format I used for column A was date and time. Only date 
was exposed. Column E needed to read the A format as a number and calculate the 
time from the 2000 epoch. They need to be in the same format. I cannot solve 
this from here as the format works for me with my version of Excel. In Europe 
and even the US the formats are different. Different versions of Excel do not 
communicate. The math works which is why non spreadsheet options are sometimes 
better. But I was answering a question specific to a free spreadsheet 
calculation, which I provided.

Regards, Roger Bailey 

From: Helmut Haase 
Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2016 12:07 PM
To: Roger Bailey ; [email protected] 
Subject: Re: Solar Declination


Hi Roger,
I had to change the date format in colum A and in the formula of colum E. Maybe 
this is of concern for others too.

It is a matter of taste of course to use a spreadsheet for this calculation. I 
would prefer and recommend a free numerical software like Scilab e.g.. Meeus's 
algorithm would appear readable and edits are easy to make.

Regards, Helmut Haase
----------------------------------------- 
Am 26.10.2016 19:05, schrieb Roger Bailey:

  Hi Dan,

  The advice you have received from Gian and others is excellent. I use his 
"Sol et Umbra" android app in a smartphone and tablet. It is a great app. 

  But you asked for a spreadsheet. Attached is one implementation of Meeus's 
simplified solar coordinate calculation. Helmut Sonderegger developed this and 
added it to my spreadsheet for calculating analemmatic sundials. I have copied 
it into several other spreadsheets whenever I needed declination and the 
equation of time. This is a reduced version small enough to get through the SML 
size filter. Input the start date and time into cell A7. Change the increment 
from 1 day to whatever in cell A8. Copy row 8 and paste it in below for as many 
rows as you wish. Copy the spreadsheet into other spreadsheets using solar 
coordinates but be aware of the absolute address to the degree to radian 
conversion in row 1 

  I answered this question about a year ago for Jack Aubert. he was interested 
in the rate of change of declination near the equinox and solstice. I sent him 
a full implementation of that included calculating and plotting the time of 
sunrise near the winter solstice. The copy to the SML was filtered out but I 
will forward his note and my reply with the original spreadsheet.

  To answer this question I needed to review Meeus's Astronomical Algorithms, 
specifically Chapter 25 Solar Coordinates pg 163-170. This great reference book 
is now available as a free download. Just Google Meeus Astronomical Algorithms 
free. Is this an example of fair use, a single copy of a library  copy or a 
copyright violation? I don't know but I was glad to find it. meeus discusses 
the accuracy of the simple calculation compared to the more rigorous version. 
For sundials the simple version is fine.

  Regards, Roger Bailey

    
  From: Dan-George Uza 
  Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2016 9:38 AM
  To: [email protected] 
  Subject: Solar Declination


  Hello,


  Can you provide a free accurate spreadsheet for the calculation of daily 
solar declination across a leap year as well as non-leap year?


  Thanks,


  Dan Uza


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