Description

RiseSet has good accuracy for visual sighting. The actual Sun times should be within a few seconds of the time shown. The Moon times are given to the second, but the actual time could be ± a minute. Studies indicate that in general the Moon times given are about 22 seconds late.
Be aware that visual sighting times can vary because of atmospheric aberration.

RiseSet also gives:

• The altitude and azimuth angles of the Sun/Moon at the current time, or at a user specified time. Magnetic compass correction is available.
• A compass drawing showing the azimuth and altitude angles of the Sun/Moon.
• The length of the day.
• The time of the civil, nautical, and astronomical twilight.
• The current percent visibility of the Moon.
• The date and time of the next Moon phase.
• Lunar or solar eclipse information a few days in advance of the event.

What's new in Version 2.1

• Ability to import locations from GeoDB.
• A new Location menu similar to that of GeoDB.

About This Documentation

Sections:
• Installation (Must Read)
• Using RiseSet
  • Location
  • Select
  • Import
  • Time
  • Compass
  • Mag. Corr. On/Off
  • Palm Clock
• Finding the Azimuth angle at Sun/Moon Rise/Set
• About Eclipses
• About Geomagenetic Databases
• GMT Offset
• Version Changes

Installation

This archive file includes:

risest21.prc

The executable file.

SunMoonLib.prc

The required Sun/Moon function library.

MathLib.prc

The required mathematics library -- V1.1.
Many thanks to Rick Huebner, the author of MathLib, for his excellent routines and making them freely available.

riseset.html

This documentation file.

RSMenu1.gif, RSMenu2.gif, RSMenu3.gif, RSMoon.gif, RSSun.gif, RSMoonCompass.gif, RSSunCompass.gif, RSClock.gif, RSSunMag.gif

Images for riseset.html

gmillib.prc

The optional geomagnetic library.

wmm-2000.pdb

A required database if optional gmillib.prc is installed.

Detailed Installation Instructions

altitude is angle of the Sun/Moon relative to the horizon. When it is positive the Sun/Moon is visible. You will note that at Sunrise/Sunset the altitude may actually be negative when the Sun is visible on the horizon. This is due to the atmosphere distorting the Sun's image.
(The altitude angle is sometimes called height angle.)

azimuth is the horizontal angle to the Sun/Moon. North is 0° while south is 180°.
Note: The altitude and azimuth are time dependent. They are accurate for the time shown at the top of the window. If you want the correct values at some other time, tap the time and change it. Also, values are correct only when the time is that of the current time at location for which the data is shown.

transit is the time at which the Sun/Moon is directly south in the northern hemisphere, or north in the southern hemisphere.

civil, nautical, astronomical refer to the start (or end) of these three definitions of twilight. Civil twilight starts (or ends) when the sun is 6° below the horizon; nautical twilight is 12°; astronomical is 18°. When the sun is from 0 to 6° below the horizon civil twilight is in effect. At the end of astronomical twilight it is considered dark enough for serious star gazing.

When getting times at latitudes near the poles, it is possible that the Sun/Moon does not rise or set. In that case the time output will be displayed as: 0:00:00. It is also possible that the rise time occurs on the previous day, or the set time occurs on the next day. V1.3 and V2.0, V2.1 improve this display over previous versions.

All menus are accessed by pressing the menu icon at the bottom left of the Graffiti writing area. In addition the select menu can be accessed by pressing the current location name in the title bar, and the time menu by pressing the time in the title bar.

The menus are:

Location

This menu allows you to specify the active location.
The input for latitude and longitude may be in any of the following formats:

1. Degrees -- e.g. 44.6427
2. Degrees:Minutes -- e.g. 44:38.562
3. Degrees:Minutes:Seconds -- e.g. 44:38:33.72
   The only allowable input characters are: digit, '.' and ':'. That is, digit, period, and colon.
   Should you forget this, tap the i in the upper right of this dialog box.

   Be sure to set the correct direction for the location -- West, East, North or South using the pop-up selection list to the right. The pop-up selector lists choices are only East or West, or North or South.

The input for the GMT Offset normally will be whole numbers. E.g. 5, 10, etc. indicating the correct time zone for the location. The East coast of the US is 5 West, central Europe is 1 East. If daylight time (sometimes called summer time) is in effect at the location, check the Daylight Time box.
Be sure to select East or West of Greenwich using thep pop-up selection list to the right.

If you do not know your Latitude and Longitude use this world-wide location server, or USA only location server.
Use this to find your GMT Offset.

Select

This menu is used to select the active location. You should change the names of the locations as desired. Then select the one you wish to be active.

Import

This menu imports the currently selected location from the GeoDB database into any of the three RiseSet's locations. When you import you will be asked which of the three locations the imported location should replace. Also there is a checkbox to make it the default, that is selected it as if you used the 'Select' menu.

If you don't have GeoDB it is available at: http://www.40-below.com/palm/. It is a small application and the installation is simple.

Time

This menu allows you to set the time for which the Sun/Moon is calculated. The standard Palm Time dialog box is used for this setting. Only the Start Time is used by RiseSet. To return to current time calculation, set the No Time box.

Compass

The compass menu displays a compass drawing of the current azimuth and elevation for the Sun or the Moon. The displays differs for the two bodies in that the Moon display shows the percentage illumination of Moon disk.
The Azimuth angle is shown with a heavy solid line, while the Altitude is shown dotted.
In this example the Sun Azimuth is 175° and the Altitude is 30°.
The Moon Azimuth is at 70°, and the Altitude is just above the horizon at 2°.

Note: The azimuth angle is always the actual line-of-sight angle even if magenetic correction is on.

Mag. Corr. On (Off or N/A)

Refer to the screen at the right. You will note that there is an additional azimuth angle shown in '( )'. This is the magnetic compass angle to the Sun/Moon.
The magnetic compass Azimuth angle can be displayed by tapping this menu (Mag. Corr. On), and then tapping the Sun/Moon name to recompute and display the data.
The Azimuth angle on the left will be the line-of-sight angle, and the angle to the right in '()' will be the magnetic compass angle pointing to the Sun/Moon.
Re-displaying the menu will show 'Mag. Corr. Off'. That allows this computation to be disabled.

Note: This is an optional computation and will only be performed if the gmillib.prc, and its associated wmm-2000.pdb database, is installed in your Palm.

• If gmillib.prc is not installed this menu item will be: Mag. Corr. N/A and tapping it will have no effect.
• If gmillib.prc is installed but wmm-2000.pdb is not installed you will get a message informing you that you must install it. If you do not install it both the visual and magnetic azimuth angles will be the same. If at a later time you install wmm-2000.pdb the two azimuth angles will still be the same until you change to another location (causing it to reset).

(See Detailed Installation above.)

Palm Clock

This menu item displays a dialog box in which you must check one of these two boxes so that RiseSet will know if your Palm Clock is, or is not, set for Daylight Time (also called Summer Time).
If this menu is not set correctly the angles to Sun/Moon will not be correct.