On my phone when I go to Dates and Events it says the the Eclipse is at 14:17 in Cleveland this is incorrect it occurs at 15:17. Oddly it show correctly on the timeline in the map view but it’s off by an hour in the Date and Events screen, seems like a Daylight Savings time bug
Hi Ron,
The time shown in Date and Events is the global time of max eclipse, not the local circumstances max eclipse time that would pertain to Ohio. In that way, it’s consistent with all the other event times shown in Date and Events, such as the time of equinox, or moon phase.
The apparent one hour difference you see is coincidence - if you move the map pin 50 miles west, you’ll see the max eclipse time is no longer 3:17pm, but something like 3:14pm.
The time shown in the Date and Events page is correct, but I do need to make it clearer what it actually refers to (i.e. global, not local).
I’ll try to get that polished up in the next update.
Thanks!
Stephen
Ok that explains the time difference but shouldn’t the time in Dates and Events default to the user’s local time? I’m not sure most users care what the global time is. If someone asks me when the April 8th Eclipse occurs and I say let me look in Photo Ephemeris and pull up the Date and Events I’d unknowing be giving them the wrong time for their location. So from what you’re saying the best place to get the correct time for the event is the time line on the map view for the location you’re in.
Yes. The events listed in the Date and Events page are all non-local, by design.
The solar eclipse time has been in there for quite a few years shown just as it currently is. I think it’s only become an issue now, because I added the actual local circumstances into the timeline itself.
While I agree that the vast majority of users will want the local time, that is displayed right there in the timeline, and in any case, you need to distinguish between whether by “when the April 8th eclipse occurs” you’re looking for C1, C2, or Max eclipse - I’m not sure it’s safe to assume.
There’s a clear distinction drawn in eclipse literature and tradition between the ‘general’ circumstances (that’s what I should have said, rather than ‘global’) and the local circumstances. I’ve had other users ask that I show the time and location of greatest eclipse in the sense of the general circumstances, and the Date and Events list is the natural place for that (location will have to come later, as that’s a whole other calculation I still need to implement).
I’ll clarify the wording of the entry in the Dates and Events list to make it clear which is shown there.
But for local times, the timeline is the correct source of information.
Ok, I always thought the Date and Event’s was based on the user’s GPS location and when I saw it was off by about an hour from my locationI thought it might be a Daylight Savings issue. BTW thanks for adding all the Eclipse information and the timer to TPE, it’s really helpful.
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I can certainly understand thinking that DST might be an issue - I’ve been down that path many times myself over the years!
What do you think of this updated wording?
When I get the rest of the general circumstances calculations implemented, I could add an additional drill-down page with the full details (i.e. the sort of stuff that shows up in the Solar Eclipse list in the web app).
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That works or something like See timeline for eclipse time in your location
Rightly or wrongly, I’ve always tried to use the formal terminology (hence, local circumstances). It’s why I put ‘golden hour’ in quotation marks 
, and use altitude to denote the elevation angle.
Plus I have to translate it and make it fit in more verbose languages.
I’ll have a think about what will work best.
Maybe “See timeline for exact local times.”?
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