My Solar Compass

The iPhone tool for capturing real sunrise & sunset alignments, revealing solstices, feast days, and the ancient geometry hidden in buildings and landscapes... or in your own backyard.
WHAT IS MY SOLAR COMPASS?
Point your iPhone along any structure, a cathedral nave, stone circle axis or garden path. Solar Compass records the precise compass bearing using your iPhone's GPS, compass, and camera. Then it calculates exactly when the sun rises or sets along that line throughout the year.
Discover if that medieval church or mountain peak aligns with the winter solstice. Find which saints' and feast day matches your alignment. Reveal whether ancient builders intentionally oriented their structures to capture sunrise on the longest day of the year. Or keep it close to home and find out how your house and garden are oriented.
A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME
Calculate solar positions for any historical period from 500 AD to the present day. Study a Gothic cathedral built in 1200 AD? Set the observation year to 1200 and see exactly where the solstices occurred when the building was new.
This matters because Earth's axial tilt changes slowly over centuries. The winter solstice sunrise in 1200 AD was at a slightly different azimuth than it is today. Solar Compass accounts for this historical obliquity using the IAU 2006 formula, delivering accurate calculations for medieval cathedrals, Renaissance churches, or colonial-era buildings.
For ancient sites constructed before 500 AD - like Stonehenge or the Pyramids - the app will show solstice and equinox alignments. Why? Because modern calendar systems didn't exist then. Ancient builders tracked observable celestial events: the longest day, shortest day, and equal day-night periods.
HOW IT WORKS
Point your iPhone at any alignment. Tap to capture the compass bearing in just seconds. The app stores your alignment with GPS coordinates and a photo of your viewfinder. The sun in your viewfinder will become orange and you can immediately see solstices & equinoxes, while you calculate the best sunrise & sunset alignments. The results will show you which saints' and feast days match your best results. The calculations deliver 1 arcsecond accuracy (0.00028°), more precise than your iPhone's sensors, so we recommend you calibrate your iPhone compass and capture alignments in an environment with as little interference as possible.
FEATURES
- Alignment capturing anywhere using your phone's compass, GPS, and camera
- Sunrise and sunset date calculations for your recorded bearings
- Historical calculations from 500 AD to the present with period-accurate Earth tilt values
- Automatic solstice and equinox detection with sub-degree precision
- Alignment date matching with feast days from multiple traditions
- Ancient site mode for structures built before 500 AD
- Unlimited alignment storage, organized by location with cloud sync, included in the price
- Featured reference sites including Stonehenge, Great Pyramid of Giza, Angkor Wat, and Machu Picchu
WHO IS THIS FOR?
Anyone who looks at an old building and wonders: "Why does it face that direction?". Heritage enthusiasts exploring cathedrals, castles, and sacred sites worldwide. Curious travelers who want to understand the astronomy behind the places they visit. Students and educators teaching archaeoastronomy or architectural history. Researchers documenting alignments for fieldwork. History buffs fascinated by how past cultures tracked celestial events. Garden designers interested in solar orientation. Photographers planning solstice shoots.
YOUR DATA, YOUR RESEARCH
Your location data and alignments are stored securely and anonymously in your personal cloud account and never shared. You own your research.
START EXPLORING
Let the calculations reveal what builders knew centuries ago: certain directions are special.