Sun and Moon Times and Aziumth
MPG V2.7, July 2010
Background
One of the best times for scenic landscape photographs are the periods from morning twilight to just past sunrise and evening twilight to sunset. Many photographs in Mt. Rainier NP are taken during these periods. To help photographers working in the NP, below are links to the current months for sunrise and sunset, moonrise and moonset, and sunrise and sunset azimuth, along with some links to Websites to do your own calculations or this information over any time period you want.
Sun and moon information for recent and current months are listed below.
Information
Azimuth is the compass point in degrees from true north of the position of the sun on the horizon at sunrise and sunset. Altitude, which is not included in these Web pages but available on the Websites below or from downloadable software, is the angle of the sun above the horizon from the viewers perspective.
The azimuth is important to understand where the light from the sunrise or sunset will be coming from during that part of the day for your images. Altitude is also important to understand the shadows the sun will cast for the subjects in the scene and your images. Some of the Websites will calculate this information for any individual day in a printable format.
Additional Resources
Below are some Web-based calculators for sunrise/sunset, moonrise/moonset and sunrise/sunset azimuth. Knowing your exact location in the NP isn't that critical as you can use the calculation for Seattle, Washington to be sufficiently close to make any minor adjustments in the field. Otherwise, Paradise is 46.77 ° north 121.73 ° west and the crest of Mt. Rainier is 46.85 ° north and 121.76 ° west for exact calculations.
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