Sun to the left. The bold line is your latitude.
How high the Sun climbs at noon. A steeper Sun sends more direct energy to each patch of ground.
The bright band is where one fixed beam lands. The dotted band is the smaller patch a straight overhead Sun would light.
Through the day the shadow sweeps around the dial and stretches near sunrise and sunset. Through the year the noon shadow grows long in winter, short in summer. Drag the dial to tilt and rotate.
Through the day the Sun moves along the arc, sunrise to noon to sunset. The dotted arcs are the summer and winter solstices: through the year the whole path rides higher and longer in summer, lower and shorter in winter. Drag the dome to tilt and rotate.
Set latitude, date, and time to read the Sun's height and bearing, the shadow it casts, daylight, and the day's energy. The Sun arc traces today's Sun from sunrise to sunset (drag to move the time); Daylight and Noon Sun trace the whole year (drag to move the date).