Adjusted sunset time

[jjmcgo]

Sunset for Friday, August 17, is 7:48 PM.
If you were at Zeta Pass late Friday afternoon/evening, Mount Washington would be near due west and the Sun would set behind it, at elevation 6,288 ft., rather than sea level, where sunset is actually calculated.
Can anyone here do the math and determine what time the Sun would set behind the peak of Agiochook?

 

[Tom Rankin]

Sunset for Friday, August 17, is 7:48 PM.
If you were at Zeta Pass late Friday afternoon/evening, Mount Washington would be near due west and the Sun would set behind it, at elevation 6,288 ft., rather than sea level, where sunset is actually calculated.
Can anyone here do the math and determine what time the Sun would set behind the peak of Agiochook?

First of all, the Sun does not set due West on that date, but rather to the North. So, you will have to position yourself with that in mind. If you knew how high in the sky Mt. Washington was, you could use (free) astronomical software like Celestia, Cartes Du Ciel, or Stellarium, etc. to determine when the Sun reached that elevation.

Post the elevation and/or coordinates of Zeta Pass, and I will try to figure it out for you.

 

[Paradox]

Sunset for Friday, August 17, is 7:48 PM.
If you were at Zeta Pass late Friday afternoon/evening, Mount Washington would be near due west and the Sun would set behind it, at elevation 6,288 ft., rather than sea level, where sunset is actually calculated.
Can anyone here do the math and determine what time the Sun would set behind the peak of Agiochook?

I am trying to figure out why you would want to determine this. Is the answer just interesting to you, or is there some other motivation for knowing this?

 

[Tom Rankin]

A quick pass shows that the Sun will be 5 degrees above the horizon at 7:25, 13 degrees to the right of West (Az=283). Close enough?

 

[jjmcgo]

Thanks, Tom

So, there's a 23-minute loss of daylight caused by the high mountain. You're right about the sun setting north of West on that date.
Paradox -- I learned the answer from Tom and I learned about programs that will give me such an answer in the future.
The original intent was to get up there and set up camp, outside the restricted area, but a twisted knee and lack of interested co-hikers prevented that. They wanted to go swimming instead. Still had a great time, just didn't climb Carter Dome.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

This is somewhat off the point but I was part of an interesting discussion on another bulletin board a couple of months ago. Someone had posted that Baxter was the first point of land in the US to get the sun's rays. I thought it was Acadia, and found thru a quick Google there's another point along the coast that shares that with Acadia, but only around January 1st. As others with vastly greater scientific and math skills pointed out - due to the Earth's wobble, those 3 points share that distinction, depending upon the time of year, due to the Earth's wobble on its axis and its elliptical orbit around the Sun.