Be aware that visual sighting times can vary because of atmospheric aberration.
To use this version of Riseset you must install a Ewe¹ VM (Virtual Machine) on your
computer. Ewe is a version of Java. It is very compact and efficient. It uses only about 2
Mbytes of memory.
To learn more about Ewe please read the introduction on the
Bray Mobile Applications page.
Riseset has good accuracy for visual sighting. The actual Sun times should be
within a few seconds of the time shown. The Moon and major Planet 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:
After Ewe is installed find the Ewe directory. For example, in a Windows Desktop it
will be where you told the installer to install it, and in the Pocket PC it will
(probably) be in \Windows\StartMenu\Programs\Ewe. Specifically, it is the directory in
which you find 'ewe.ewe'. ewe.ewe is the Ewe Launcher. Use of Ewe Launcher is not mandatory
for the Windows and Pocket PC operating system. However please read
Changing Display Font below.
If you put all of your applications in this directory, when you add additional applications
from Bray Mobile Applications common files can be
shared. Especially the Location Data CSV files.
Once you find the proper directory copy all of the files in riseset12Install.zip into that directory, in what ever manner you copy files to your computer.
There is also no uninstaller for Riseset. It does not use the operating system registry, so nothing is hidden. To remove Riseset, simply delete: Riseset.ewe, and Riseset.ini.
Note: No matter what Regional settings are used on your computer(s), Riseset always uses the '.' (period) as the decimal point, the ':' (colon) as the hour/minute/second separator, and the ',' (comma) as the data separator.
Riseset should be ready to run now. Find Riseset.ewe with your File Explorer, click on it
to try it out!
Using Riseset
Hopefully the application output is self explanatory. In this documentation we will use the
word 'Planet' to refer to the celestial bodies available in Riseset.
A word about the time line. The time to the left is Home time and the time to the right is the Local time. More about the two different times below.
Six terms used are:
azimuth is the horizontal angle to the Planet. North is 0° while south is 180°. If the optional magnetic compass correction software is installed and activated, following the azimuth angle in parenthesis is the magnetic compass azimuth angle. This is shown at the right as (258.2°).
Note: The altitude and azimuth are time dependent. They are accurate for the Local Time shown at the top of the window. If you want the correct values at some other time, tap Time/NewTime and change it. For more information on the Menus see below.
transit is the time at which the Planet 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. (See "Sun at Potsdam" display above.)
When getting times at latitudes near the poles, it is possible that the Planet 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.
Each Location Data line not only includes latitude and longitude, but also time zone and
daylight time information so that Riseset will automatically adjust the Local Time for accurate
Altitude and Azimuth information.
More information on this is discussed below. See Location Data
To solve this problem a menu item has been added to Riseset, "Use EweVM Font". When this is selected the font used is that of the Ewe Launcher. This is explained next.
In Riseset tap Menu then tap Use EweVM Font. Nothing will happen. Exit Riseset and save the settings. Next time you restart Riseset, the display will use the Ewe Vm font. If the font is not to your liking, run the Ewe Launcher: ewe.ewe. It is located in the directory in which you installed Ewe. That is discussed in: Installation above.
To change the Ewe VM font in the Ewe Launcher, click on the VM Options tab. Select the font and size you want. Save it. Selecting a monospaced font will look the best. Once this is done start Riseset.
Ewe Launcher also allows you to change the style of the display bottoms. You might want to check this out.
The Location Data CSV Editor Application (LocEdit) is available at the Bray Mobile Applications page. LocEdit makes it easier to edit Location Data CSV files and more data is available. If you are intending to create your own personal Location Data CSV files it is recommended that you get LocEdit.
Documentation that comes with LocEdit has full details about a Location Data CSV file format.
The format of Location Data files is described next.
NOTE: Beware that CSV files are an acceptable format for Excel. However, DO NOT
use Excel to create or edit them since all the latitude, longitude formats are not known to Excel and
it will modify them incorrectly without giving an error message!
Having a file of locations is much easier than entering a location manually when you want different
information -- especially for travelers.
The form of the Location Data has been chosen to allow it to be easily edited so that you can create
and update your favorite locations collection them together into files. As stated above, only use a text
editor on these files. DO NOT use Excel it can modify your data WITHOUT warning.
The Location Data is defined in Comma Separated File (CSV) files. These Location Data files were
first introduced in the Palm OS GeoDB application.
The format for these files is as follows:
Example: The three formats for latitude, longitude, and time zone are:
About Location Data
The Location Data allows you to select a location on the Earth for Riseset to display its information.
Potsdam NY,44:38.562,N,75.03,W,,5,W,4
| degree ':' minute ':' second '.' decimal second | 44:38:33.72 |
| degree ':' minute '.' decimal minute | 44:38.562 |
| degree '.' decimal degree | 44.6427 |
| Note: All three of these value are the same earth latitude. |
The Daylight Time Code is as follows:
| 0 | No -- Never |
| 1 | Yes -- Always |
| 2 | Australia -- Start: Last Sunday in October; End: Last Sunday in March |
| 3 | Europe -- Start: Last Sunday in March; End: Last Sunday in October |
| 4 | N. America -- Start: Second Sunday in March; End: first Sunday in November (The new 2007 rules.) |
| 5 | S. America -- Start: First Sunday in October; End: Last Sunday in February |
To determine if you will have a chance to see it, use the Time/NewTime menu and set the
Local Time to that of the eclipse.
For a lunar eclipse check the Moon data again. For a solar eclipse check the Sun.
If the eclipsed body is above the horizon (i.e. the altitude is positive) and the sky light is
favorable, then it is possible that you can see it, but it still may not be visible.
You can usually find all of the details of an eclipse at:
http://skyandtelescope.com/.
An interactive web version of Riseset (for the Sun and Moon) can be found at: http://www.40-below.com/sunmoon/
More applications can be found at The Bray Mobile Applications page: http://davidbray.org/mobile/
This archive may be freely redistributed, provided it is made available only in its complete, unmodified form with no additional files and for noncommercial purposes only. Any other use must have prior written authorization from: David W. Bray .
Unauthorized commercial use includes, but is not limited to:
¹ Ewe is developed by Michael L Brereton. We are indebted to him for his outstanding software product and making it freely available. Thank you Michael!
To be sure that your version is up-to-date check the Bld: number in the current description of Riseset at: http://davidbray.org/mobile/