Sometimes, I imagine the sun as a giant spotlight shining on different parts of the Earth throughout the day. And that's exactly what I thought of when my father-in-law showed me the World Sunlight Map this weekend.
This computer-generated illustration shows the sun rising and setting all over the world in real time. The site allows you to view various map projections, as well. The image above (from about 11 a.m. EDT today) is the traditional Mercator projection, but you can also see the Peters, Mollweide and equirectangular projection maps. Each has its own advantages, and it's interesting to see the differences.
