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Just thought I could use a little break from what constitutes as "norm" these days.
What is it called and/or where can I find a way to predict where the sun and/or moon will rise or set?
A little explanation -- I'm getting into photography a little bit. We have this giant landmark here -- called Pikes Peak. I would like to get a picture of the sun setting behind it or the moon setting very close to it but sometimes the sun/moon sets far North or South of the peak and so it makes it difficult to photograph that way.
I found a good site that gives me the times the sun and moon sets (which isn't all that accurate because the mountain range makes it appear that they set sooner than the site says they will) but I don't even know what I'm looking for to figure out where they will set.
Any help out there?
You'll probably want to reference some astronomy data on the web to see if you can determine that information for your location. This may be a stretch, but maybe check with the local university, if there's one close. I know Univ. of Colorado Boulder has a great astronomy school, so maybe check their website.
For photography, I recommend you check out this guy's website. He discusses photography at sunset and makes some further suggestions and links. Site
Do you have an I-phone or I-Pad? If so, then a further recommendation I would make is that you check out an app called Pocket Universe. It's designed for skywatching and telescopes, but also should be able to calculate and monitor the sunset and moonrise from a specific location. It takes a little getting use to, but it's been a pretty good app for me - although I live near the ocean not mountains.
Hope that helps - good luck with your project.
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Thanks for the help guys. Unfortunately I don't have and I-Pad or I-Phone.
...I don't even know what I'm looking for to figure out where they will set.What do you mean by "where" the sun or moon will set? Are you looking for the azimuth angle (compass direction)?
-Skeld
I don't know if "compass direction" is what I'm looking for since that is dependent on where I am at the time.
Pikes Peak is always West of Colorado Springs. It may be slightly North or slightly South of "due West" depending on where I am. But where the Sun sets is significantly moreso. During the Summer months, the sun sets pretty far North of Pikes Peak -- I'd have to go pretty far South (to the point where Pikes Peak isn't really visible) to get the two in the same picture. And it's pretty far South of Pikes Peak in the Winter months. The moon is more or less the same, but it seems to cycle through North to South considerably more quickly.
Here's an example of what I'm trying to capture. The day before I took that picture, the moon set right on the point of the peak. (But of course I didn't have the camera on me at that time.) And that picture I feel is kind of "meh". If I could predict when and where it will set, there are places I can go to get a more interesting shot accomplished.
Sunsets in Colorado are a little different to try and take pictures of. Typically you don't want the sun in the picture -- you get the best colors after the sun goes behind the mountains. But most of the color occurs closer to the area that the sun set so it would be nice to be able to predict where that happens as well.
I'm still probably not quite explaining accurately what I'm looking for. But thanks for the help.
Why don't you go out the day before and see where the sun and moon rise and set? Then, if Cthulhu doesn't wake, the sun and moon should rise and set pretty close to the exact same spots.
Tensor's advice is the best. Trying to do this academically will only cause you frustration. Consider that the "official" sunset (when the sun drops below the standard horizon for that longitude) will vary from the time the sun drops below the mountains (which are taller than the horizon, by varying amounts). There is no web site or calculator that I know of with the capability of tagging your position by satellite, taking into account all intervening terrain, and then spitting out an exact time and direction.
This is also not exactly what you want, I think, but it may give you some hints or a lead.
http://www.field-notebook.com/?p=84
(the part about creating an analemma calendar may be helpful?)
Just thought I could use a little break from what constitutes as "norm" these days.
What is it called and/or where can I find a way to predict where the sun and/or moon will rise or set?
A little explanation -- I'm getting into photography a little bit. We have this giant landmark here -- called Pikes Peak. I would like to get a picture of the sun setting behind it or the moon setting very close to it but sometimes the sun/moon sets far North or South of the peak and so it makes it difficult to photograph that way.
I found a good site that gives me the times the sun and moon sets (which isn't all that accurate because the mountain range makes it appear that they set sooner than the site says they will) but I don't even know what I'm looking for to figure out where they will set.
Any help out there?
I have a 16-bit program called ALW that tells me exactly what time the sun will rise and where if I input my lat/long.
There is probably an updated 32 or 64-bit version out on the WWW somewhere.
In service,
Rich
www.drgames.org