Heliacal Rise

The heliacal rising of Sirius is the yearly occurrence when the brightest star, Sirius, becomes visible in the sky. That happens around August each year, and the specific day depends on the geographic latitude and the year. On that particular day, Sirius becomes visible for the first time for a few seconds shortly before sunrise in the morning at the eastern horizon. That day was an essential event for ancient Egyptian civilization, as it indicated the beginning of their new year. A few temples were aligned to that location on the horizon where Sirius appears for the first time each year; most prominently, the Hathor Temple at Dendera, near Luxor. Also, the southern shaft in the Queen's Chamber of the Great Pyramid at Giza is considered, with its 38° angle, to be related to Sirius. Specifically, its upper culmination angle, the maximum elevation above the local horizon it reaches, matches that angle at the time when the pyramid is assumed to have been built. Heliacal Rise shows with a camera view and an overlaid visual compass indicator the horizon locations of Sirius's heliacal rising and setting, along with dates and times. The built-in calculation automatically adjusts to the phone's location. Still, it can also be switched to manual location mode so you can view the heliacal rising for any location on Earth. And very special about Sirius is that it also shows the time and elevation above the local horizon of its yearly midnight culmination on New Year's Day. That's special for the star Sirius to reach its highest nightly location above the horizon at midnight between December 31, 23:45, and January 1, 0:15, depending on geographic location, timezone, and year. Every star has its day of the midnight culmination, but they are distributed throughout the year, and only the Sirius Midnight Culmination occurs at midnight into the New Year. In the current first version 1.0.0, the calculation is limited to the years betwen 1583 and 2300 as I couldn't find a stable calculation method yet beyond those. That will be improved in an upcoming update soon to reach much further into the past and include the times of the pyramids. If you'd like to see the rising locations of other stars, please let me know which ones. Also, if you have suggestions about other interesting features to add.