Sunset/Sunrise Dublin Mountains

Green Mile

I've never in my life just sat there and watched the Sunrise or the Sunset.

The Dublin Mountains are close to me so I plan to go up there soon and witness it. I wonder where in the Dublin Mountains would be best to view this?

Obviously the sky must be clear and the place must be west-facing for the set and east-facing for the rise.

Anyone any good recommendations? Or perhaps there are other locations that people could recommend?

K

Tabnabs

The top of three rock, plenty of shelter and views out to sea for the sunrise. Just make sure the sky is clear before you haul your ass up there in the dark...

Alun

It's not in the Dublin Mountains, but there's a place up on Paddock Hill near Laragh called the Gossan Stones, where if you stand behind the two stones you can see the sun rise between the stones and the sides of Devil's Glen on the two equinoxes.

http://www.knowth.com/gossan-equinox.htm

I have a precise grid reference for them if anyone's interested as they aren't easy to find. I've seen it happen a few times myself, but it was always too cloudy, and I failed to get any decent photos.

Judge

Tabnabs wrote: »

The top of three rock, plenty of shelter and views out to sea for the sunrise. Just make sure the sky is clear before you haul your ass up there in the dark...

I'd second Three Rock and also add Carrickgollogan as an alternative suggestion.

sparrowcar

Green Mile wrote: »

I've never in my life just sat there and watched the Sunrise or the Sunset.

The Dublin Mountains are close to me so I plan to go up there soon and witness it. I wonder where in the Dublin Mountains would be best to view this?

Obviously the sky must be clear and the place must be east-facing for the set and west-facing for the rise.

Anyone any good recommendations? Or perhaps there are other locations that people could recommend?

K

In that case you'll just see darkness for both

Green Mile

sparrowcar wrote: »

In that case you'll just see darkness for both

Yikes, Corrected.

Sure you can easily get up to the top of the Sugarloaf.
I would love to do the same. Wanted to do it for the dawn of the millennium but was dying with influenza. Would prefer sunrise more than sunset.

sparrowcar

Deleted User wrote: »

Sure you can easily get up to the top of the Sugarloaf.
I would love to do the same. Wanted to do it for the dawn of the millennium but was dying with influenza. Would prefer sunrise more than sunset.

Yep Sugarloaf is a no brainer. 20-30 mins to the top from the car park depending on fitness and it's a clear track to the top. Car park is also not locked so you can park anytime. Clear view out to Irish sea and the sunrise.

Sunset you need to be in the western Wicklow mts to get a clear sunset view. I've watched it from the top of Lugnaquilla before but it was a bit cloudy so not really perfect conditions.

delta_bravo

Tibradden is also very nice

MB Lacey

I have a precise grid reference for them if anyone's interested as they aren't easy to find. I've seen it happen a few times myself, but it was always too cloudy, and I failed to get any decent photos.

yes please

Alun

MB Lacey wrote: »

yes please

T 14519 98773

They're a couple of hundred metres to the left of the path that goes over Paddock Hill towards Scarr.

a148pro

Very interesting article Alun, thanks for posting

Just thinking, and not being cynical or anything, but if I stick two stones on a reasonable axis, can I not capture a large range of sunrises in a given season? And can I not then align myself to centre the sunrises between the stones?

I mean, in terms of the photo, I imagine it would only be significant if the camera was equidistant from each stone? I.e., the camera and the two stones would form a triangle, and then the rising sun of the equinox is perfectly centred between the stones?

Maybe this is the case?

Donny5

a148pro wrote: »

Very interesting article Alun, thanks for posting

Just thinking, and not being cynical or anything, but if I stick two stones on a reasonable axis, can I not capture a large range of sunrises in a given season? And can I not then align myself to centre the sunrises between the stones?

I mean, in terms of the photo, I imagine it would only be significant if the camera was equidistant from each stone? I.e., the camera and the two stones would form a triangle, and then the rising sun of the equinox is perfectly centred between the stones?

Maybe this is the case?

It's not the triangle of the observer and the two stones that's important, but rather the corridor due East formed by the two stones and the two sides of the valley in the Devil's Glen, which means that an observer standing between the gossan stones has an uninterrupted view to the part of the sea horizon where the sun rises on and close to the equinoxes.

Alun

a148pro wrote: »

Very interesting article Alun, thanks for posting

Just thinking, and not being cynical or anything, but if I stick two stones on a reasonable axis, can I not capture a large range of sunrises in a given season? And can I not then align myself to centre the sunrises between the stones?

I mean, in terms of the photo, I imagine it would only be significant if the camera was equidistant from each stone? I.e., the camera and the two stones would form a triangle, and then the rising sun of the equinox is perfectly centred between the stones?

Maybe this is the case?

You can't see it on that photo, but if you stand up and look towards the coast there, you can see a distinct notch on the coast that is Devil's Glen, and if you stand between the stones the sun comes up right in that notch at the two equinoxes. The stones are just a place where if you stand between them then you, the notch of Devil's Glen and the rising sun are in alignment, just like at Newgrange.

If you were to stand significantly to the left or right of the stones, you'd not see that effect although admittedly it'd have to be a good distance away, so the position of the stones isn't that critical.

Equally you could also probably position the stones so that you achieved the same effect at other times of the year, but it was supposedly the spring and autumn equinoxes that were significant to the people who 'built' them, and that is what is significant.

I've attached a photo which shows the notch I'm talking about, but is a bit later than the actual sunrise as earlier on it was too dark and cloudy to get a decent shot, so the sun has already risen a bit. This was taken on the autumn equinox in 2007.

a148pro

Thanks Alun. Prob going to try and head there around the time of the equinox so hopefully will see it for myself, so may bump into you! I love those kind of places and my mother regularly heads up to similar places at the solstaces etc. From experience in the other passage graves around Newgrange, if you go up for a few days either side of the date the effect is the same, so I'm sure its similar here if the weather isn't good on the actual day. In fact if I recall correctly from the centre at Newgrange its suggested that because of slight variations in the earth's orbit over the last few millenia the graves etc don't actually align with the exact solstaces any more anyway.

Apart from witnessing it I think the strongest confirmation of it being designed that way is probably the placename.

rolion

Sun set,last sunday,on my way back from Glendalough !
Pictures dedicated to all the volunteers that built the paths ...

Alun

I've just noticed that photo was actually taken the day before the equinox. This was a sunrise walk with my walking group which always walks on Saturday, so that's why. I don't know how much movement there is in the position the sun rises in in just one day, but I did notice it was a bit 'off' where it was supposed to be. Maybe the stones just need 'recalibrating' after a thousand years or so

Donny5

Alun wrote: »

I've just noticed that photo was actually taken the day before the equinox. This was a sunrise walk with my walking group which always walks on Saturday, so that's why. I don't know how much movement there is in the position the sun rises in in just one day, but I did notice it was a bit 'off' where it was supposed to be. Maybe the stones just need 'recalibrating' after a thousand years or so

The difference in angle between soltices is 46 degrees, so an average of about a quarter degree a day, but the daily change would be least around the solstices and greatest around the equinoxes.

Alun

Donny5 wrote: »

The difference in angle between soltices is 46 degrees, so an average of about a quarter degree a day, but the daily change would be least around the solstices and greatest around the equinoxes.

Interesting. I downloaded a spreadsheet from the NOAA website here http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/grad/solcalc/calcdetails.html and this gives the daily difference in the sun's azimuth at sunrise for a few days around the equinox in 2007 as about 0.3 degrees.

paulocon2

Great and very interesting thread.

I took a notion a couple of years back to watch a sunrise from the top of a mountain/hill. Cheated a wee bit and drove to the top of Clermont/Black Mountain in the Cooley Mountains - this is home to a mast so the access road takes you all the way to the top.

Putting that aside, it was a great experience and something I must do again. It was amazing to watch the sun rise over Carlingford Lough. I took some photos but they don't come anywhere near doing the scene justice.







This shot is actually sunset over the mountain from which I took the first shot.



I keep meaning to do a summit-camp somewhere but never get round to it.