Sunrise and Sunset Calculator
Find sunrise, sunset, solar noon and day length for any city or coordinates on any date, plus first and last light, golden hour and blue hour, in local time with daylight saving.
North and east are +, south and west are −. Degrees, minutes and seconds work too.
From a tall building, a mountain or a plane you see further over the horizon, so the sun rises earlier and sets later. Leave 0 for ground level.
Sunrise and sunset in —
| Date | Sunrise | Sunset | Day length |
|---|
How your sunrise and sunset are worked out
Your place and date, step by step: the sun's tilt, solar noon, how far the sun travels to the horizon, then the times.
- 1
The sun's tilt
19 Oct 2026
declination
= −10.03° - 2
Find solar noon
12:00Z
− 4 × 55.27°
− EoT +15.0 min
= 08:04Z → 12:04 - 3
Hour angle H
φ 25.20° N
sun at −0.83°
H = 86.2°
half the day - 4
Sunrise and sunset
noon ± 5h 45m
↑ 06:19
↓ 17:48
Read more: the formula, a worked example, twilight and golden hour
The sun rises and sets at different times through the year because the Earth's axis is tilted by about 23.44°. The sun's declination, how far north or south of the equator it is overhead, swings between +23.44° in June and −23.44° in December, and that sets how long its path above your horizon is. Your longitude sets when it is highest (solar noon), and the equation of time corrects for the Earth's oval orbit, which makes solar noon drift up to 16 minutes either side of clock noon.
The formula
solar noon (UTC minutes) = 720 − 4 × longitude − equation of time
cos H = (sin(−0.833°) − sin latitude × sin declination) ÷ (cos latitude × cos declination)
sunrise = solar noon − 4 × H minutes
sunset = solar noon + 4 × H minutes
day length = 8 × H minutes
then add your time zone's offset (with daylight saving) to get local time
East longitudes are positive and west negative. For twilight, use −6° (civil), −12° (nautical) or −18° (astronomical) in place of −0.833°. If cos H comes out above 1, the sun never gets that high that day (polar night); below −1, it never gets that low (midnight sun). Declination and the equation of time come from the NOAA solar calculator equations (from Jean Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms). The calculator then works each time out again with the sun's position at that moment, which moves it by a few seconds.
Worked example
Take Dubai (25.2048° N, 55.2708° E, UTC+4) on Sunday 21 June 2026. On that day the sun's declination is +23.44° and the equation of time is −1.79 minutes.
Solar noon = 720 − 4 × 55.2708 − (−1.79) = 720 − 221.08 + 1.79 = 500.71 minutes after midnight UTC, which is 08:20:43 UTC, or 12:20:43 in Dubai (12:21).
cos H = (sin(−0.833°) − sin 25.2048° × sin 23.44°) ÷ (cos 25.2048° × cos 23.44°) = (−0.01454 − 0.42586 × 0.39776) ÷ (0.90479 × 0.91749) = (−0.01454 − 0.16939) ÷ 0.83014 = −0.18393 ÷ 0.83014 = −0.22157, so H = 102.80°. That is 4 × 102.80 = 411.20 minutes, or 6 h 51 m 12 s, either side of solar noon.
Sunrise = 500.71 − 411.20 = 89.51 minutes UTC = 01:29:31 UTC = 05:29:31 in Dubai. Sunset = 500.71 + 411.20 = 911.91 minutes UTC = 15:11:55 UTC = 19:11:55. Working each time again with the sun's position at that moment moves them to 05:29:26 and 19:11:58, so the calculator shows sunrise 05:29 and sunset 19:12, and a day length of 13 h 42 m 32 s (13h 43m). The sun is highest at 90° − (25.20° − 23.44°) = 88.2°, almost straight overhead.
Twilight, golden hour and blue hour
| Name | Sun's height | What you see | Dubai, 21 June 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day | Above −0.833° | The sun is up | 05:29 to 19:12 |
| Golden hour | −4° to +6° | Soft, warm, low light | 05:14 to 06:03, 18:39 to 19:28 |
| Blue hour | −6° to −4° | Deep blue sky, lights on | 05:04 to 05:14, 19:28 to 19:38 |
| Civil twilight | 0° to −6° | Light enough to work outside | 05:04 to 05:29, 19:12 to 19:38 |
| Nautical twilight | −6° to −12° | Horizon still visible at sea | 04:33 to 05:04, 19:38 to 20:09 |
| Astronomical twilight | −12° to −18° | Faint glow; most stars out | 04:00 to 04:33, 20:09 to 20:42 |
Golden hour and blue hour have no official definition; photographers use slightly different angles, so treat them as a guide. Near the poles the sun can stay low all day, which makes golden hour last for hours.
Night and civil twilight for pilots
Many aviation rules define night as the time from the end of evening civil twilight to the start of morning civil twilight, when the centre of the sun is 6° below the horizon. Switch to Advanced to see first and last light in UTC (Zulu). Some rules use a different definition (such as a fixed time after sunset), so always check the rule that applies to your flight.
How accurate is it?
The NOAA equations are good to about a minute for places between 72° north and 72° south and dates from 1800 to 2100; further towards the poles, where the sun crosses the horizon at a shallow angle, times can be several minutes out. Real sunrise also depends on hills, buildings, the weather and how much the air bends the light that day, so allow a minute or two either way. City coordinates are for the city centre.
Method: NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory solar calculator equations, checked against an independent implementation (the astral library) for Doha, London, Tromsø, Sydney, New York, Kiritimati and the equator on 13 October 2026; all within a minute. Local times use your browser's time zone database, so daylight saving is applied for the date you pick.
Common questions
What time is sunrise and sunset in Dubai today?
Pick Dubai (it may already be chosen) and leave the date on today. Dubai has the same clock time all year (UTC+4), so its sunrise moves from about 5:28 am in June to about 7:05 am in January, and sunset from about 7:14 pm in late June to about 5:30 pm in late November.
How is sunrise time calculated?
The calculator works out the sun's declination (how far north or south of the equator it is) and the equation of time for your date, finds solar noon from your longitude, then the hour angle at which the centre of the sun is 0.833° below the horizon. Sunrise is solar noon minus that angle × 4 minutes and sunset is solar noon plus it. This is the method of NOAA's solar calculator.
Why is sunrise at 0.833° below the horizon and not 0°?
Sunrise and sunset are when the top edge of the sun touches the horizon, not its centre. The sun's radius is about 0.27°, and the air bends its light by about 0.57° near the horizon, so you see the top of the sun when its centre is still about 0.833° below the horizon.
What is the difference between civil, nautical and astronomical twilight?
Civil twilight is while the sun is up to 6° below the horizon: there is enough light to work outside without lamps. Nautical twilight runs to 12° below, when sailors can still see the horizon. Astronomical twilight runs to 18° below; after that the sky is fully dark. Many aviation rules define night as the time between the end of evening civil twilight and the start of morning civil twilight, but check the exact rule that applies to you.
When is golden hour and blue hour?
Golden hour is when the sun is low, from 4° below to 6° above the horizon, which gives soft warm light for photos. Blue hour is just before it in the morning and just after it in the evening, when the sun is 4° to 6° below the horizon and the sky turns deep blue. In Dubai in June, the evening golden hour runs from about 6:39 pm to 7:28 pm and the blue hour from 7:28 pm to 7:38 pm.
Why does the sun not rise or set in some places?
North of the Arctic Circle (about 66.6° N) and south of the Antarctic Circle, the sun stays above the horizon all day for part of the summer (midnight sun) and below it all day for part of the winter (polar night). In Tromsø, Norway, the sun does not rise from late November to mid January and does not set from about 18 May to late July.
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