Image credit: Sydney Observatory

Occasional correspondent Elvis K. asks:

I put the following question in my search box to the Internet: “What is the azimuth angle of sunrise in Sydney at summer solstice?” To my surprize the answer appeared in large bold type: 90° . I don’t believe this is correct. I believe the answer in about 119° but I wanted to check the accuracy of this figure.

Elvis is correct, the sunrise azimuth angle for Sydney on the summer solstice is 119-degrees, ie roughly towards the south-east. So, I entered the question into a Microsoft Edge browser and it returned the same incorrect answer of 90-degrees.

Why? The browser refers to two sources, both of which mention 90-degrees. Looking closely at the referenced sites themselves we find they are both correct – one states the equinox sunrise azimuth (correct at 90-degrees) the other states that at noon from Sydney the Sun is always at an azimuth of less than 90-degrees (also correct). But they are not the question Elvis asked!

Somehow, the automated process behind the Edge browser (an AI?) totally misinterprets the sites and sadly returns the wrong answer.

Beware the internet!