Date & Time
Age, duration & timezone calculators
Sunrise & Sunset Times
Sunrise, sunset, solar noon, day length, golden/blue hour and civil, nautical & astronomical twilight for a city and date — computed in your browser with the NOAA sunrise equation and converted to local time with daylight-saving handled from the IANA timezone database. Shows how far solar noon sits from clock noon (longitude-in-zone + equation of time), the golden-hour window photographers want, and how day length changes through the year. Polar day/night is handled explicitly and times are accurate to about a minute; no navigational-grade ephemeris. Accurate, instant and free — for United States.
In San Francisco on 2026-06-21: sunrise 05:48, sunset 20:34, solar noon 13:11 — 14.78 h of daylight.
Sunrise
05:48
Sunset
20:34
Solar noon
13:11
Day length
14h 47m
14.78 hours between sunrise and sunset.
Golden hour (each end)
58 min
Soft, warm light window at each end of the day.
Evening golden & blue hour
Golden 19:55–20:53
Blue 20:53–21:06
Golden hour runs while the sun sits between about +6° and −4°; blue hour is the deeper −4° to −6° window just after sunset.
Twilight (dawn / dusk)
| Phase | Dawn | Dusk |
|---|---|---|
| Civil (−6°) | 05:16 | 21:06 |
| Nautical (−12°) | 04:37 | 21:45 |
| Astronomical (−18°) | 03:52 | 22:30 |
Solar noon vs clock noon
The sun is highest at 13:11 — about +71 min from 12:00 on the clock. That gap comes from where San Franciscosits within its timezone (longitude) plus the equation of time (the Earth’s tilt and elliptical orbit), which alone swings ±16 minutes over the year.
How we calculate
Photographer’s golden hour
How we calculate this
Reviewed by Reckonist Editorial · Last reviewed July 2026. Figures follow the methods and sources set out in our editorial standards.
Sunrise, sunset and twilight are computed with the NOAA sunrise equation and are accurate to roughly ±1–2 minutes for typical locations; they are not a substitute for a navigational almanac. Local times apply the IANA timezone database (including daylight-saving) for the chosen date.
NOAA solar calculator · sunrise equation
Take it further: count down to the next solstice or any date with the Countdown Calculator, or measure the span between two dates with the Date Difference Calculator.
Sunrise, sunset, solar noon and day length for any city and date
Pick a city and a date and the calculator returns the day’s sunrise, sunset and solar noon, the total day length, the golden-hour and blue-hour windows and the three phases of twilight— all computed in your browser and shown in the city’s own local time.
Sun times
from coordinates
sunrise / sunset = solar noon ∓ 4 · H₀
H₀ is the hour angle where the sun reaches −0.833° (refraction + its own radius).
Local time
IANA tz, DST-correct
local = UTC minutes + zone offset(date)
The offset is read from the timezone database for the exact date, so daylight saving is applied correctly.
- 1Solar noon: the sun peaks at 13:11 local — about 71 minutes after clock noon.
- 2Sunrise & sunset: 13:11 ∓ 7h23m → sunrise 05:48, sunset 20:35.
- 3Day length: sunset − sunrise = 14h 47mof daylight (the year’s longest).
The NOAA sunrise equation — and how accurate it is
Times come from the NOAA sunrise equation: from the date we derive the sun’s declination and the equation of time, then solve the hour angle at which the sun’s centre reaches −0.833°below the horizon — 0.567° of atmospheric refraction plus the sun’s own 0.267° radius. Sunrise and sunset sit symmetrically either side of solar noon.
Accurate to about a minute
Golden hour, blue hour and the three twilights
Golden hour (sun roughly −4° to +6°) is the soft, warm, low-contrast light photographers chase; the shorter blue hour (about −6° to −4°) is the cool twilight glow just before dawn and after dusk. Beyond that, twilight is graded by how far the sun is below the horizon: civil (0° to −6°, bright enough to work outdoors), nautical (−6° to −12°, horizon still visible at sea) and astronomical (−12° to −18°, sky almost fully dark).
Photographer's note
Why the sun isn't highest at 12:00
The sun almost never peaks at clock noon. A timezone spans many degrees of longitude, and every degree away from the zone’s reference meridian shifts solar noon by about four minutes. On top of that the equation of time— from Earth’s elliptical orbit and axial tilt — pushes the sun up to about 16 minutes ahead of or behind clock time over the year. Daylight saving adds a further hour. The tool prints the solar-noon offsetso you can see exactly how far the sun’s peak sits from 12:00 on your date.
Polar day and polar night, handled honestly
Above the Arctic and Antarctic circles the sun can stay up for 24 hours around the summer solstice (the midnight sun) or stay down for 24 hours around the winter solstice (polar night). When there is no sunrise or sunset to report, the calculator says so explicitly instead of inventing a time — for example Utqiaġvik, Alaska has no sunset for weeks around 21 June.
No NaN, no fake times
Frequently asked questions
Golden hour is the stretch around sunrise and sunset when the sun sits low — roughly between −4° and +6° elevation — so its light is soft, warm and low-contrast, prized by photographers. The tool shows both the morning and evening golden-hour windows for your chosen city and date, along with the shorter blue hour (about −6° to −4°) just before dawn and after dusk. Golden hour is longer nearer the poles and at the solstices, and shortest near the equator, because it depends on how steeply the sun climbs.
Times are computed with the NOAA sunrise equation from the city’s latitude and longitude and are accurate to about a minute for typical locations, which is more than enough for planning a photo, a run or a commute. They assume a flat sea-level horizon: local hills, tall buildings or elevation can shift the visible sunrise or sunset by a few minutes, and atmospheric refraction varies with weather. It is not a navigational-grade ephemeris — for surveying or celestial navigation use an official almanac.
Clock noon and solar noon rarely coincide for two reasons. First, a timezone covers a wide band of longitude, so unless you sit exactly on the zone’s reference meridian the sun peaks a few minutes early or late — every degree of longitude is about four minutes. Second, the equation of time: because Earth’s orbit is elliptical and its axis is tilted, the sun runs up to about 16 minutes ahead of or behind clock time over the year. The tool shows the solar-noon offset so you can see exactly how far the sun’s peak sits from 12:00 on your date. Daylight saving adds another hour on top.
Twilight is the gradual light before sunrise and after sunset, split into three bands by how far the sun is below the horizon. Civil twilight (0° to −6°) is bright enough to work or drive outdoors without lights and is when the brightest stars appear. Nautical twilight (−6° to −12°) is when the horizon is still faintly visible at sea — the classic window for star sightings. Astronomical twilight (−12° to −18°) is when the sky is nearly fully dark; past −18° it is true night. The tool lists the dawn and dusk time for all three.
Above the Arctic (or Antarctic) Circle the sun can stay up for 24 hours around the summer solstice (the midnight sun, or polar day) and stay down for 24 hours around the winter solstice (polar night). When that happens there is no sunrise or sunset time to report, so the tool says so explicitly instead of showing a bogus figure — for example Utqiaġvik, Alaska has no sunset for weeks around 21 June. Cities just below the polar circle get very long or very short days but the sun still rises and sets.
Both the calculation and the display use the selected city’s own local time. The solar equation produces times in UTC, which the tool then converts using that city’s IANA timezone for the exact date you pick, so daylight saving is applied correctly whether or not it is in effect on that date. Everything runs in your browser from the city coordinates and timezone — nothing is sent to a server.
Method & references
Methodology: the sun’s declination and the equation of time are computed from the calendar date, then the hour angle at −0.833° gives sunrise/sunset, symmetric about solar noon (720 − 4·longitude − EoT, in UTC minutes). Twilight uses −6°/−12°/−18°, golden hour ≈ −4° to +6°, blue hour ≈ −6° to −4°. UTC minutes are converted to local time using the city’s IANA timezone for the chosen date, so daylight saving is correct. Accurate to about a minute at a flat sea-level horizon; polar day/night is reported explicitly. All calculations run client-side and nothing is stored.
Cross-links
How we calculate this
Reviewed by Reckonist Editorial · Last reviewed July 2026. Figures follow the methods and sources set out in our editorial standards.
Times are computed with the NOAA sunrise equation and are accurate to about a minute at a flat sea-level horizon; hills, buildings, elevation and weather can shift the visible sunrise or sunset. This is a planning tool, not a navigational-grade ephemeris. Polar day/night is reported explicitly.
Keep going
Same-category tools follow this colour; a cross-category link keeps its own.