What’s New in TPE Web 4.11: Moon at Sunrise/Sunset, RRFS Weather Model Added

Find Moon alignments at sunrise and sunset, navigate dates and times faster and explore new high-resolution weather forecasts.

TPE Web 4.11 introduces a new Moon at Sunrise/Sunset planning tool, making it easier to find those special occasions when a bright Moon rises around sunset or sets around sunrise.

We’ve also redesigned the Events dialog, added more ways to enter dates and times directly and introduced NOAA’s new high-resolution RRFS weather model for MAX subscribers.

The release includes a range of improvements to weather integration, account management and general reliability.

New: Moon at Sunrise/Sunset (PRO)

Some of the most striking Moon photographs are taken when the Moon is close to the horizon at sunrise or sunset.

Around Full Moon, the Moon rises near sunset and sets near sunrise. This creates opportunities to photograph a brightly illuminated Moon against a foreground landscape or landmark while there is still some natural light in the sky.

But finding the right day, time and shooting location can involve checking many dates.

TPE Web 4.11 introduces a new Moon at Sunrise/Sunset tab in the Events dialog to make that process much easier.

Find the right combination of Sun and Moon altitude

The new tool searches the selected year for occasions when:

• The Moon is rising while the Sun is setting
• The Moon is setting while the Sun is rising

You can specify the altitude range you want for each body.

For example, you might look for occasions when the Sun is between 2° above and 4° below the horizon, while the Moon is between 0° and 4° above it.

You can also set a minimum Moon illumination between 50% and 100%, depending on how close to Full Moon you want the opportunity to be.

Each result shows the matching time window, its duration, the Moon’s direction and illumination and the altitudes of both the Sun and Moon.

Select a result to set TPE to the middle of that time window, ready to explore the composition.

Find alignments with your subject

If you’ve placed the secondary pin on a landmark or other subject, the results become even more useful.

A small compass dial shows the Moon’s direction relative to the bearing from your camera position to the secondary pin.

You can set an angular tolerance from ±0.1° to ±5°. Results where the Moon doesn’t come within that tolerance are shown in gray, making it easier to identify the most promising opportunities.

This provides a quick way to find dates when a nearly full Moon might rise or set close to a particular mountain, building or other subject.

Moon at Sunrise/Sunset is available to PRO and MAX subscribers.

New: NOAA RRFS weather model (MAX)

TPE Web 4.11 adds NOAA’s new Rapid Refresh Forecast System (RRFS) weather model for North America.

RRFS provides forecasts at approximately 3 km horizontal resolution, making it another useful option for examining local weather conditions when planning photography.

The model is available to MAX subscribers and supports the same weather layers currently offered for HRRR.

You’ll find RRFS in the Weather panel’s model selector, immediately after HRRR.

Changes to weather model availability

NOAA has retired the NAM weather model, so it has been removed from TPE’s available forecast models.

We’ve also improved how TPE handles saved plans and settings that refer to weather models that are no longer available, or that your current subscription doesn’t include.

Instead of displaying an empty weather layer, TPE now selects an available model that covers your location.

Weather planning moves into TPE Web

The separate Photo WX weather site is being retired, with its functionality now available directly in TPE Web.

Links from wx.photoephemeris.com will open TPE’s main map with weather enabled and the Weather panel displayed.

Where possible, the location, map position, date, time and language from the original link are preserved.

You can also use app.photoephemeris.com/weather to open TPE directly in its weather-planning view.

This brings weather forecasting and photographic planning together in one place.

A redesigned Events dialog

The Events dialog has been updated to make it easier to navigate astronomical events.

Its layout now matches TPE’s Search and Command interface, with clearer navigation and the selected year displayed prominently.

Events are grouped by month, with headings that remain visible as you scroll.

You can navigate the list using the arrow keys, Home and End, and select an event with a click or Enter.

The solar eclipse catalog has also been streamlined, making it easier to browse eclipses across different years and centuries.

On the Map and 3D pages, press E to open the Events dialog directly.

Type dates and times directly

TPE Web 4.11 makes it much easier to move to a precise time without repeatedly dragging the timeline.

You can now click the time displayed in the altitude chart legend and type the time you want.

For example:

• 21:05
• 9pm
• 21h05
• 9:32:14.5

Fractional seconds are supported, which can be particularly useful when investigating eclipse contacts.

The main date field also accepts times, either on their own or together with a date.

Dates, times and offsets in Search

TPE’s Search interface (Ctrl/Cmd+K) now recognizes dates, times and relative time adjustments directly.

For example:

• 21:05 sets the time to 9:05 PM on the selected date.
• +2:30 advances the current time by two hours and thirty minutes.
• +1d moves to the same time on the following day.

Each of these entries appears as the first search result, making it quick to access.

The Search field is now also available directly on the 3D page, alongside the date controls.

Together, these changes make navigating to precise dates and times much faster, particularly when you’re investigating a series of possible shot opportunities.

Clearer controls and help

We’ve made several smaller improvements to make TPE easier to navigate and understand.

• Search is easier to discover. The search field and its tooltip now explain that you can search for places, coordinates, saved items, commands, dates and times.
• Direct time entry is more obvious. The time readout now indicates that it can be clicked and edited.
• Updated help links. Links throughout TPE now open the current help articles directly in the application.
• Clearer terrain analysis legends. The Slope, Aspect and Irradiance color keys now explain what their colors represent: terrain steepness, slope direction and direct sunlight under a clear sky.

Privacy and account improvements

We’ve also made a number of improvements to privacy-related messaging and subscription information.

Clearer notices when optional services are unavailable

Google Maps and Google’s Photorealistic 3D imagery require permission for the relevant optional services.

Previously, declining the corresponding cookie category could leave a map or 3D view displaying an alternative without explaining why.

TPE now displays a notice when these features are unavailable because of your privacy choices, with a direct link to Cookie preferences (where supported).

Improved subscription information

Complimentary access and free trials are now identified more clearly on the Subscription page.

Subscriptions on plans that are no longer offered are also marked as Legacy plans, with an explanation that changing plans may mean you cannot return to the previous one.

We’ve also corrected an issue that prevented users with only complimentary access or a free trial from deleting their accounts.

Other fixes and improvements

TPE Web 4.11 includes a number of additional reliability and accuracy fixes:

• More reliable rise and set events around daylight saving time changes. Events occurring during the extra hour when clocks go back are no longer missed, and events near the spring transition are assigned to the correct day.
• Corrected greatest eclipse times. The solar eclipse catalog now properly converts greatest eclipse times to UTC, fixing a discrepancy of approximately 75 seconds.
• More reliable map context menus. Right-clicking the map now works more consistently, including after map movements or resizing.
• Corrected event grouping by month. Events now appear under the appropriate month for the selected location’s time zone, rather than the computer’s time zone.
• Improved solar eclipse catalog navigation, including a fix for centuries beginning in years ending in 00.
• Improved privacy handling for embedded YouTube videos. Videos in Help and What’s New articles use YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode, avoiding YouTube cookies until playback begins.

Find the moments that matter

The new Moon at Sunrise/Sunset tool makes it easier to discover a particularly rewarding kind of photographic opportunity: a bright Moon near the horizon, a foreground subject in the right direction and enough natural light to capture them together.

Combined with faster date and time entry, improved event navigation and expanded weather forecasts, TPE Web 4.11 helps you move more efficiently from finding an opportunity to evaluating the conditions for making the photograph.

Explore TPE Web 4.11 at app.photoephemeris.com.