Sunrise, sunset...

[[XAP]Bob]

Just found a useful little website:
http://webcal.fi/en/calendars.php

Can subscribe to calendars on smart devices which will tell you (for your chosen location) the time of sunset/sunrise (and other interesting things optional)

Also lunar calendars etc...

Note that although motor vehicles lighting regs meaning lighting up is at sunset, for us it's half an hour earlier...

[sisavedbygrace]

I didn't know about us needing to light up 30 mins before, useful to know although I always have my rear lights on and front lights in the dark or just before

[Psamathe]

Thanks for that. I'd previously been using http://asa.usno.navy.mil which is more astronomical based (planets, mood apogee, etc.).

Ian

[661-Pete]

Note that although motor vehicles lighting regs meaning lighting up is at sunset, for us it's half an hour earlier...

I don't think that's quite right. See here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lighting-up_time

Lighting-up time is defined as the period from half-an-hour after sunset, to half-an-hour before sunrise. That defines the times when cars should have their headlights on in the absence of streetlighting. Sidelights or DRLs should be lit for the first half hour after sunset or before sunrise. I'm not sure what the legally enforcible times for cyclists are, but to play safe, I suggest make it sunset to sunrise.

I don't need a special app to tell me when sunset and sunrise are, because (on my desktop, wearing my astronomer's hat) I have a freebie called Cartes du Ciel, an excellent piece of planetarium software which amongst other things enables you to read off sunrise and sunset times for any date and location you care to enter. Also nautical and astronomical twilight periods, which vary according to latitude.

CdC might be a bit too high-powered for those not into astronomy. But I thought I'd mention it.

[[XAP]Bob]

Sorry...

These commonplace phrases have meant many different things in the past and continue to cause confusion. Remember: for a cyclist the only thing that matters is the sun, the moment it dips below the horizon, our lights must go on, even though there may be plenty of light to see by for another half hour or so on a clear evening.

Sunset to sunrise: that's lighting-up time, when drivers must also switch on their sidelights at least. They can leave off the headlights for another 30 minutes, until - you guessed it - the 'Hours of Darkness', which nowadays endure from half an hour after sunset until half an hour before sunrise.

From

http://www.ctc.org.uk/cyclists-library/ ... egulations



CdC is nice, but I can have it at work, and having the times on my calender just makes sense to me

[Tacascarow]

Just found a useful little website:
http://webcal.fi/en/calendars.php

Can subscribe to calendars on smart devices which will tell you (for your chosen location) the time of sunset/sunrise (and other interesting things optional)

Also lunar calendars etc...

Note that although motor vehicles lighting regs meaning lighting up is at sunset, for us it's half an hour earlier...

A bit of overkill I know but the The Photographer's Ephemeris tells you where the sun & moon are at any time anywhere in the world.
Useful if a driver claims the sun was in his eyes at a particular time though .

[Brucey]

in urban areas I've always taken the (pragmatic but not necessarily strictly correct) view that anytime the streetlights come on in the evening, you should be lit up on a bike too.

I think it would be a pretty rotten copper that pulled you when you were adhering to this.

cheers

[Mick F]

My Garmin Montana has a page of sunrise and sunset times, plus moonrise and set too. Also hunting and fishing - if that lights your candle.

[Psamathe]

A bit of overkill I know but the The Photographer's Ephemeris tells you where the sun & moon are at any time anywhere in the world.
Useful if a driver claims the sun was in his eyes at a particular time though .

Also useful when a neighbour puts in for Planning Permission for an extension/garage that might put you in shadow. Having real "I will lose light in my sitting room until 11:00 and after 14:00 right through 10 May to 15 Sept and will be in perpetual shade mid-Oct to mid-April ..." (ignore the dates as I made them up). An argument with specific dates and math is far more convincing that "it will put my sitting room in shade".

I've always used AstroPlanner for such calculations in the past. Whilst it's not a Planning issue, assuming you have the "Right to Light and Air" and thus can take the matter to court, I've found that including such arguments in a Planning Objection lets your neighbour know that you can substantiate your objections and I've always found that plans have subsequently changed. I have always gone to neighbours to discuss planning applications before submitting (polite way to do things) them but youngsters these days don't seem to give a care about the impact of what they want to do on others (it's far more of a "me, me, me, me culture).

Ian