Sunrise & Sunset Calculator - Sun Times for Any Location

How to use this tool

1. Enter latitude and longitude (or click "Use my location").
2. Select a date and enter the UTC offset for that location and date, including daylight saving time. Match my device uses your browser offset for the selected date.
3. Read sunrise, sunset, solar noon, daylight duration, and any twilight crossings.

Twilight types

"Sunrise" and "sunset" are when the Sun's upper limb is at the horizon. Twilight - the period of partial illumination before/after - is divided into three categories:

This calculator reports dawn and dusk when the Sun crosses each category's lower altitude: 6° below the horizon for civil twilight, 12° for nautical, and 18° for astronomical. The standard sunrise and sunset calculation uses a 90.833° zenith, which accounts for the Sun's apparent radius and average atmospheric refraction. Twilight crossings are solved separately, so a polar-night date can still have nautical or astronomical dawn and dusk even when civil twilight does not occur. “No daily crossing” means the Sun does not move across that altitude during the selected date. At an exact pole, the Sun's altitude can stay at or near a threshold throughout the day without a daily transition.

Location and time zone

Enter decimal latitude and longitude for the place you want to check. Coordinates do not identify a time zone, so the calculator keeps the UTC offset as a separate input. Set that offset for the selected location and date, including daylight saving time; for example, New York uses UTC−4 during daylight time and UTC−5 during standard time. “Match my device” applies the browser's offset for the selected date, which is useful when the coordinates describe where you are. If you edit the coordinates, the offset stays as entered. All calculations run in this browser, and this page does not send your coordinates to its server.

Daylight variation

At the equator, day length is nearly constant at 12 hours year-round. At mid-latitudes (45°N/S), day length swings from about 8.5 hours in winter to about 15.5 hours in summer. At the Arctic/Antarctic circles (66.5°), the Sun never sets on summer solstice and never rises on winter solstice. Near these circles, twilight can continue for hours even when sunrise or sunset does not occur, which is why the separate crossing results are useful for trip planning and choosing observation times.

The equation of time

The sun does not rise and set at precisely the same time each day. Earth's elliptical orbit and axial tilt cause solar noon to vary by up to ±16 minutes across the year - a phenomenon called the equation of time. This is why sunrise and sunset times do not shift uniformly throughout the year, and why a sundial rarely agrees exactly with a clock. The equation of time is included in the NOAA-style calculation, while the selected UTC offset converts the resulting UTC solar times to the clock time you want to display.

Solstice vs. equinox

The summer solstice is the longest day of the year, but it is not the day with the latest sunset or earliest sunrise. Due to the equation of time, the earliest sunrise occurs about a week before the summer solstice, and the latest sunset occurs about a week after it.

Similarly, the earliest sunset in winter occurs roughly two weeks before the winter solstice (the shortest day). This surprises many people who assume the darkest evening falls on the solstice itself.

Polar phenomena

At latitudes above 66.5° (the Arctic and Antarctic Circles), the Sun can remain above or below the horizon for 24 consecutive hours:

• Midnight sun: the Sun stays above the horizon throughout the night at high summer. At 66.5°, this occurs for just one day per year; at the poles, for six months.
• Polar night: the Sun stays below the horizon throughout the day at mid-winter. The duration also increases with latitude, reaching six continuous months of darkness at the geographic poles.