How accurate is this sunrise and sunset calculation?

Within about a minute at mid latitudes. Accuracy degrades toward the poles, where the sun approaches the horizon at a very shallow angle so a small error in altitude becomes a large error in time, and local terrain matters more than the algorithm.

What is the golden hour and when does it happen?

It is the period when the sun is between the horizon and about 6° above it, giving warm, low, soft light. It runs from sunrise until the morning boundary shown here, and from the evening boundary until sunset.

What is the difference between civil, nautical and astronomical twilight?

They are defined by how far the sun is below the horizon: 6° for civil, when outdoor activity is still possible; 12° for nautical, when the horizon is still discernible at sea; and 18° for astronomical, after which the sky is fully dark.

Why is the earliest sunset not on the shortest day?

Because of the equation of time — the difference between true solar time and clock time, which swings roughly fifteen minutes across the year. It shifts sunrise and sunset in the same direction, so their extremes fall days either side of the solstice.

Does this tool look my location up on a server?

No. If you use the location button your browser supplies the coordinates directly, and every solar calculation runs on your device with no request made.

Sunrise & Sunset Calculator

Sunrise, sunset, solar noon, twilight and golden hour for any date and any location — computed from the date, not fetched.

The Sunrise & Sunset Calculator runs entirely in your browser. Your coordinates are used only for the solar calculation on your device and are never uploaded.

Open the World Clock & Time Zone Converter

About Sunrise & Sunset Calculator

Sunrise & Sunset Calculator works out where the sun is from the date and your coordinates using the NOAA solar position algorithm — no lookup tables and no network request, just arithmetic. Alongside sunrise and sunset it gives solar noon, the three twilight phases and both golden hours, plus the day length, the sun's declination and the equation of time. Sunrise is not simply the sun touching the horizon: atmospheric refraction lifts its image by about 34 arcminutes and the event is defined by the upper limb rather than the centre, which is where the standard 90.833° zenith angle comes from. Above the Arctic and Antarctic circles the midnight sun and polar night are detected and reported.

Features

Sunrise, sunset and solar noon for any date and coordinates
Civil, nautical and astronomical twilight in both directions
Morning and evening golden hour boundaries
Day length, solar declination and the equation of time
Detects the midnight sun and polar night at high latitudes
Optional one-tap use of your device location
City shortcuts spanning both hemispheres and the Arctic
Computed from the date on your device with no network call

How to use the Sunrise & Sunset Calculator

Set the date you are interested in
Enter latitude and longitude, or tap Use my location
Set the UTC offset that applies on that date, allowing for daylight saving
Read the sunrise, sunset and twilight times for that place

Example

Input

20 June 2024, London (51.5072, -0.1276), UTC+1

Output

Sunrise 04:43 · Solar noon 13:02 · Sunset 21:21 · Day length 16h 38m

Midsummer in London, where the sun is up for over sixteen and a half hours.

Common errors & troubleshooting

The times are an hour out from a published table. — Check the UTC offset. Daylight saving is not applied automatically, so a summer date in London needs 1 rather than 0, and a summer date in New York needs −4 rather than −5.
No sunrise or sunset is shown at all. — Above the Arctic or Antarctic circle the sun can stay up or down for the whole day. The tool reports which of the two it is rather than showing a blank.
A southern-hemisphere location gives unexpected seasons. — That is correct — December is midsummer south of the equator. Make sure the latitude is negative for southern locations and the longitude negative for western ones.
The location button does nothing. — Browsers require permission for location access and only offer it on secure connections. Decline it and you can always type the coordinates in directly.

Frequently asked questions

How accurate is this sunrise and sunset calculation?: Within about a minute at mid latitudes. Accuracy degrades toward the poles, where the sun approaches the horizon at a very shallow angle so a small error in altitude becomes a large error in time, and local terrain matters more than the algorithm.
What is the golden hour and when does it happen?: It is the period when the sun is between the horizon and about 6° above it, giving warm, low, soft light. It runs from sunrise until the morning boundary shown here, and from the evening boundary until sunset.
What is the difference between civil, nautical and astronomical twilight?: They are defined by how far the sun is below the horizon: 6° for civil, when outdoor activity is still possible; 12° for nautical, when the horizon is still discernible at sea; and 18° for astronomical, after which the sky is fully dark.
Why is the earliest sunset not on the shortest day?: Because of the equation of time — the difference between true solar time and clock time, which swings roughly fifteen minutes across the year. It shifts sunrise and sunset in the same direction, so their extremes fall days either side of the solstice.
Does this tool look my location up on a server?: No. If you use the location button your browser supplies the coordinates directly, and every solar calculation runs on your device with no request made.

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