getting sunrise and sunset times fronm FSX

[Zacke]

Hey guys,

any idea how to read out the sunrise and sunset times for a given location and day in FSX?

Thanks in advance,
Zacke

[twsharp12]

Hey guys,

any idea how to read out the sunrise and sunset times for a given location and day in FSX?

Thanks in advance,
Zacke

I don't think I've ever been able to do this within the sim. You would have to use an external program or website to figure it out for you. A quick search brought up this website for me: https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/

[MkIV Hvd]

https://www.theweathernetwork.com

Cheers,
Rob

[Zacke]

Thanks for your fast replies.

But I don't need the rw times but the (quite unrealistic) FSX SR and SS times. They're there and the question is if there's a FSX file to get the info from or an external software to read out the corresponding files.

[AKar]

While twilight, and dusk/dawn periods often are not true to life, I've found the Sun's 'schedule' to be at least somewhat accurate in FSX and its descendants. Is there any specific situation where you find it inaccurate?

Please note that if using sim's local time, the time zones are indeed inaccurate in FSX, but this should not affect the situation if setting the time and date using UTC. This is something they purportedly fixed in v5.

-Esa

[Zacke]

@ Esa: I often read about the inaccuracy of the FSX SR and SS but never checked it out by the numbers. I'll have an eye on that and report back. Would be very usefull if one could use the rw SR/SS time in FSX.

By the way: I'm using Time Zone Fixer for FSX.

Regards,
Zacke

[AKar]

Yeah, I don't know how many if any changes to the Sun angles have been made in P3Dv2 thru v5. It's been years since I've last used the original FSX, so I can't say that positively.

I live at about 60¼° north, where I find the position of the Sun to be more or less correct in the sim. However, timing of the dawn and dusk sky colors are usually way off from the reality.

On the other hand, one of my favorite "Africa destinations" is Entebbe, not much more than a runway's length away from the equator. The Sun rises and sets in a steep angle there (in fact, in this time of the year just about vertically). I find the sunset and sunrise quite well matching the expectations as well.

In fact I quickly tested the latter: the Sun should set at 18:43 today, which it more or less appears to be doing in the sim, setting the local sim time to 18:42.



This is P3Dv5, I am not sure if FSX is any different.

And importantly, of course, it should be noted that at altitude, the Sun rises earlier and sets later than the position alone would indicate.

-Esa