Correct sunrise times for Front Range peaks?

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nathanc
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Correct sunrise times for Front Range peaks?

Post by nathanc »

Does anyone know of a resource that calculates sunrise/sunset times taking terrain into account? The sunrise calculators I've found online do not. For example, they list sunrise times for today of 5:35am on Pikes and Evans, or 5:32am on Longs. However, since these peaks have a long view to the east over much lower terrain, I suspect the true sunrise may be a couple of minutes earlier. Is this accurate? Has anyone photographed sunrise from these peaks in June and checked the exact time?
I sing the mighty power of God, that made the mountains rise,
That spread the flowing seas abroad, and built the lofty skies.
Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed, where’er I turn my eye,
If I survey the ground I tread, or gaze upon the sky!
-Isaac Watts, 1715
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ekalina
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Re: Correct sunrise times for Front Range peaks?

Post by ekalina »

You can use the Photographer's Ephemeris (free version) to check sunrise/sunset times anywhere in the world, taking terrain into account.
https://photoephemeris.com/

It has been a while since I've used it, but there are some great tutorials available for it:
https://support.crookneckapps.com/hc/en ... -Tutorials

It does have somewhat of a learning curve, but it is incredibly useful for answering these types of questions.
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SamWerner
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Re: Correct sunrise times for Front Range peaks?

Post by SamWerner »

nathanc wrote: Fri Jun 11, 2021 9:08 am Does anyone know of a resource that calculates sunrise/sunset times taking terrain into account? The sunrise calculators I've found online do not. For example, they list sunrise times for today of 5:35am on Pikes and Evans, or 5:32am on Longs. However, since these peaks have a long view to the east over much lower terrain, I suspect the true sunrise may be a couple of minutes earlier. Is this accurate? Has anyone photographed sunrise from these peaks in June and checked the exact time?
According to this article, sunrise is probably going to be early by 2-3 minutes.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/weather/ ... olumn.html
nathanc
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Re: Correct sunrise times for Front Range peaks?

Post by nathanc »

Thanks! I'll have to dig in to Photographer's Ephemeris then.
And good old Tom Skilling! That answer makes sense, but now I wonder if, say you're at 14,764' and looking out over a horizon of land at 4,921.3' (which is pretty close to the situation on Front Range peaks), do you gain 3 minutes of sunlight (14764 / 4921.3) or only 2 minutes ((14764 - 4921.3) / 4921.3)?
I sing the mighty power of God, that made the mountains rise,
That spread the flowing seas abroad, and built the lofty skies.
Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed, where’er I turn my eye,
If I survey the ground I tread, or gaze upon the sky!
-Isaac Watts, 1715
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Tim A
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Re: Correct sunrise times for Front Range peaks?

Post by Tim A »

The PeakFinder App shows exactly when and where the sun and moon will rise and set from and uses offline topo maps and gps to calculate it from where you are. You can also preview these times by finding summits or locations beforehand. I think it cost me a few dollars.
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Re: Correct sunrise times for Front Range peaks?

Post by clairekm »

PeakFinder will show you the time the sun will come across the horizon (or from behind any mountains in the way) from a given summit, as well as where it will be. I have found it to be quite accurate.
nathanc
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Re: Correct sunrise times for Front Range peaks?

Post by nathanc »

After messing around with Photographer's Ephemeris, I'm finding a difference of 10-11 minutes between the "normal" sunrise time and the actual time on Pikes, Evans, Longs, etc., with an estimated horizon ~125 miles away. (FWIW, the Photographer's Ephemeris tutorial includes a 115-mile horizon from Hallett Peak in RMNP.)
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EphemerisLongs.jpg
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I sing the mighty power of God, that made the mountains rise,
That spread the flowing seas abroad, and built the lofty skies.
Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed, where’er I turn my eye,
If I survey the ground I tread, or gaze upon the sky!
-Isaac Watts, 1715
nathanc
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Re: Correct sunrise times for Front Range peaks?

Post by nathanc »

I was wondering about this after trying to photograph yesterday's annular (partial) eclipse here on the East coast. I looked up future sunrise eclipse possibilities and found a sunrise annular eclipse on, coincidentally, today's date in 2048, with the annular phase happening from about 5:25-5:30am Colorado time. So whether sunrise is at 5:20 or 5:25 or 5:35 would make a big difference in what you could theoretically see.
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I sing the mighty power of God, that made the mountains rise,
That spread the flowing seas abroad, and built the lofty skies.
Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed, where’er I turn my eye,
If I survey the ground I tread, or gaze upon the sky!
-Isaac Watts, 1715
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ekalina
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Re: Correct sunrise times for Front Range peaks?

Post by ekalina »

Wow, nice! 10–11 minutes is a pretty significant difference. It would be worth taking into account for the annular eclipse scenario that you mentioned, since the sun's position relative to the horizon is a very important factor in landscape photography on an ordinary day, let alone when an eclipse is taking place.

Really spectacular photo too. Well done (I'm assuming it's yours).
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Re: Correct sunrise times for Front Range peaks?

Post by peter303 »

Mountain level sunsets are 13-15 minutes earlier than the horizon sunset when viewed from central Denver. The sunset point is pretty much near its northernmost for the year (solstice).
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