Sunrise, Sunset & Daylight Calculator
Search any city and pick a date to see sunrise, sunset, solar noon, day length, golden hour and the twilight phases — all computed from the sun’s position and shown in the local time there.
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How do I find sunrise, sunset and daylight hours for a city?
Search the city and choose a date — the tool computes sunrise, sunset, solar noon, total day length, golden hour and the twilight phases from the sun’s position, and shows them in that city’s local time. Day length grows toward summer and shrinks toward winter, with the swing getting larger the further you are from the equator.
Methodology: Sun times are computed with the standard solar-position algorithm (after Meeus) from the location’s latitude, longitude and date — sunrise and sunset at 0.83° below the horizon, civil/nautical/astronomical twilight at 6°/12°/18°, and golden hour up to 6° above. Times are converted to the location’s IANA timezone (resolved from the nearest airport) with daylight saving handled for that date. The astronomy runs in a small API; everything is verifiable rather than approximated. How we test & calculate.
Knowing the light before you go
How much daylight you’ll get — and exactly when the sun rises and sets — shapes a trip more than people expect. It decides how many hours of sightseeing you really have, when the light is best for photos, whether an early flight lands in darkness, and how a northern summer or winter will feel. This tool computes all of it for any city and date from the position of the sun, then shows the times in the local clock so you can plan against them directly.
Sunrise, sunset and the length of the day
Sunrise and sunset are the moments the sun’s centre sits about 0.83° below the horizon — the figure that accounts for the sun’s own width and the way the atmosphere bends its light, which is why the day is always a little longer than a simple geometry would suggest. Solar noon is when the sun is highest, halfway between them. The day length is just the gap between sunrise and sunset, and the tool also tells you how that compares to the day before — a minute or two near the equinoxes, several minutes at high latitudes.
Golden hour, for the photographers
If you care about photos, the two golden-hour windows — just after sunrise and just before sunset, when the sun is low and the light is warm — are the ones to plan around. Their length depends on your latitude and the season: near the tropics the sun drops fast and golden hour is short, while in the far north or south it can stretch on for an hour or more. The tool gives you both windows in local time so you can be in position before the light turns.
The three twilights
After the sun sets it doesn’t go straight to black. Civil twilight (sun up to 6° below the horizon) stays bright enough for most outdoor activity; nautical twilight (6–12°) is when the sea horizon fades; astronomical twilight (12–18°) is the last glow before truly dark skies, which matter if you’re stargazing. Knowing civil dusk in particular is handy for judging how much usable light you have after the official sunset.
How Much Daylight You Get, By Latitude
Latitude decides how dramatically your daylight swings through the year — far more than most people expect before they check. Near the equator, day length barely moves; head toward the poles and the gap between summer and winter widens fast.
| Latitude | Around the summer solstice | Around the winter solstice |
|---|---|---|
| Near the equator (0– 10°) | ~12 hours | ~12 hours |
| Mid-latitudes (~35– 45°) — much of the US, southern Europe, China | ~14–15 hours | ~9–10 hours |
| Higher latitudes (~50– 60°) — UK, Germany, southern Canada | ~16–17 hours | ~7–8 hours |
| Arctic/Antarctic Circle and beyond (66.5°+) | Midnight sun | Polar night |
These are typical ranges, not exact figures for every city at that latitude — elevation, local geography and the exact date all shift the numbers slightly. Search your own destination and date above for the precise times.
The Shortest and Longest Days of the Year
The June solstice (around June 20–21) is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and the shortest in the Southern Hemisphere; the December solstice (around December 21–22) reverses it. The exact date shifts by a day either way from year to year. If you’re chasing long summer evenings somewhere like Scandinavia or Alaska, the days around the June solstice are as long as it gets; if you’d rather avoid the shortest, darkest days at high latitude, late December is the one stretch to plan around.
Midnight sun, polar night and planning around the seasons
Go far enough north or south and the ordinary rules break down: around midsummer the sun simply doesn’t set (the midnight sun), and around midwinter it doesn’t rise (polar night). The tool detects both and tells you plainly rather than showing impossible times. For everywhere else, changing the date is the quickest way to see how dramatically a destination’s daylight shifts across the year — useful before booking a far-northern summer trip or a winter city break. Pair it with the jet lag calculator to time your light exposure, or the time zone tool to see the current time there.
Frequently Asked Questions
How are the sunrise and sunset times calculated?
They’re computed astronomically from the location’s latitude and longitude and the date, using the standard solar-position equations — not looked up from a list. Sunrise and sunset are defined as the moment the centre of the sun sits about 0.83° below the horizon, which accounts for the sun’s radius and atmospheric refraction. The results are then shown in the location’s own local time.
What is golden hour?
Golden hour is the period of soft, warm, low-angle light photographers love, roughly when the sun is between about 6° above the horizon and the horizon itself. There’s one after sunrise and one before sunset. This tool shows both windows; their length grows the further you are from the equator and changes through the year, which is why golden hour can last well over an hour at high latitudes.
What’s the difference between civil, nautical and astronomical twilight?
They mark how far the sun is below the horizon after sunset (or before sunrise). Civil twilight is up to 6° below — bright enough to do most things outdoors without lights. Nautical twilight is 6–12° below, when the horizon at sea becomes hard to see. Astronomical twilight is 12–18° below; once the sun passes 18°, the sky is fully dark and the faintest stars appear.
Why are days longer in summer and shorter in winter?
Because the Earth’s axis is tilted about 23.4°. As the planet orbits the sun, your hemisphere tilts toward the sun in summer (longer days, higher sun) and away in winter (shorter days). The effect is small near the equator, where day length barely changes, and dramatic near the poles, where it builds to continuous daylight or darkness. You can see this by changing the date for any city.
What is the midnight sun and polar night?
Above the Arctic and below the Antarctic Circle, the tilt is strong enough that around midsummer the sun never sets — the “midnight sun” — and around midwinter it never rises, which is “polar night”. The tool detects both: for those dates and places it tells you the sun stays up or down all day instead of showing a sunrise and sunset.
Are the times in my time zone or the destination’s?
The destination’s. Every time is converted to the local time of the place you searched, with daylight saving handled automatically for that date, so you can read them exactly as a clock there would. The day length is the same number whatever time zone you’re in, because it’s a duration rather than a clock time.
What is the shortest day of the year?
In the Northern Hemisphere, the shortest day falls around the December solstice (roughly December 21–22); in the Southern Hemisphere it’s the June solstice (roughly June 20–21). The effect is strongest at high latitudes — near the equator the “shortest” day is barely different from any other.
What is the longest day of the year?
The longest day is the summer solstice for your hemisphere — around June 20–21 in the Northern Hemisphere, around December 21–22 in the Southern Hemisphere. At high latitudes it can mean 16–17 hours of daylight or more; inside the Arctic or Antarctic Circle, the sun may not set at all.
Does daylight saving time affect sunrise and sunset times?
Yes — when clocks move forward or back, every clock time on this page shifts by an hour with it, even though the sun’s actual position hasn’t changed. This tool uses the correct local time for whatever date you pick, including the transition days themselves, so the times you see already account for daylight saving.
How much does day length change from one day to the next?
It depends on the season and latitude. Around the equinoxes (March and September) day length changes fastest — several minutes a day at mid-to-high latitudes. Near the solstices it barely moves for a week or two in either direction, since the sun’s path is near its highest or lowest point and changing slowly. The tool shows the exact change versus yesterday for any date and place.
Is solar noon the same as 12:00 pm?
Rarely exactly. Solar noon is when the sun is at its highest point for that location, which depends on where you sit within your time zone and, for part of the year, daylight saving time. It can fall anywhere from a little before noon to nearly 1 pm on the clock, depending on the place and date.