See the sunlight before you go
Sunlight scouting in Yosemite Valley
Use this valley-floor coordinate to explore how a high rock horizon changes direct sunlight. Treat the pin as a geometry example, not a recommendation for a legal or accessible camera position.
Does the sun clear the valley horizon during golden hour?
Preview both morning and evening windows. Then place your actual camera pin precisely; nearby rock walls can be smaller than the terrain grid can resolve.
Observer: 37.740500, -119.593300. Zone: America/Los_Angeles. This is a reproducible geometry example; public access and suitability as a photo spot have not been verified.
The terrain skyline from this coordinate
Dashed line: 0° altitude. Horizontal axis: compass bearing; vertical scale: 4 pixels per degree. Computed from Terrarium at zoom 10 with 360 rays over 30 km and 1.7 m observer height above the sampled ground.
Four seasonal light checks
Predictions for 2027, in local time. First and last are sun-centre visibility bounds; open the timeline for any interruptions between them.
What the prediction covers
Heliora models the surrounding terrain horizon and the sun’s position at an observer pin. The scouting card uses the apparent sun centre crossing the terrain skyline. Standard sunrise tables usually refer to the upper edge of the sun, so the two definitions can differ even at sea level.
The terrain grid (roughly 100–300 metres at mid-latitudes, depending on device and zoom) cannot resolve every nearby wall, ledge or narrow gap. Mobile previews use a coarser horizon than the desktop examples. Trees, buildings, clouds and access permissions are not assessed by these scouting results. Numerical refinement to a minute does not imply one-minute field accuracy. A distant subject may be sunlit while your camera is in shade.
Read the calculation method and accuracy notes. Astronomy uses Astronomy Engine; terrain uses AWS terrain tiles. The examples below are computed predictions, not field observations.