nartreb wrote:Think about it folks, at the arctic circle on the June solstice, the sun never quite sets - it just touches the horizon for a few minutes. At that moment what is its compass position? (Hint, it's neither west nor east.)

North.

When trying to understand sun angles, the problem with the below map is it's a flat rectangle, and the Earth is not.

Alpinist wrote:

The sun direction at sunrise and sunset can be envisioned with the below map. At sunrise and sunset, the direction of the sun is perpendicular to the boundary between light and dark (day and night):

http://www.die.net/earth/

At the web site at

http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astronomical-applications/data-services/alt-az-us

it says the sunset at the horizon line as seen from Luna Col on July 25, 2010 is at about 301 degrees. The mountain tops aren't at the horizon. So this is approximate.

here's a map showing the visible summits from Luna Col filtered for just those lying between due east and due north and having promince (height) greater than about 0.33 degrees.

This shows that Larrabee and American Border Peak are indeed the peaks in the picture. Also that The Pleiades is right in front of American Border Peak and due to lack of contrast is almost invisible in the picture unless you know that it is there.


click for a larger interactive map

What can I say???? Wow!!!! I am impressed!!!! That is one cool mapping resoursce. Thank you. We did find a Day time photo too while weather was clear that confirmed what several of you were saying, thanks to all on the comments. I have labeled the photo as you say, Mt Everest...right?

I did some careful observations on Google Earth and can confirm that it's both Larrabee and American Border Peak. Need evidence? Open up Google Earth and view Larrabee's east face. You will see a boomerang shaped rock in the middle of the snowfield. Same goes for Norman's photograph. And to further support this the mountain on the right is exactly the right shape to be American Border Peak.

I admit I was skeptical of this claim before I looked at Google Earth. But now I too defend Norman's claim.