Sunrise & Sunset Calculator

The Sunrise & Sunset Calculator determines the precise clock times the sun crosses the horizon for any location on Earth on a given date. You supply a latitude and longitude (or a place name), and the tool computes when the sun's upper edge appears at dawn and disappears at dusk, accounting for the Earth's axial tilt, your position, and the day of the year. The result is the local solar event time, which you can convert to your time zone for everyday planning.

Under the hood, sunrise and sunset are calculated from the sun's declination and your latitude using standard astronomical formulas. The geometry works out to an hour angle that, combined with the equation of time (a correction for the Earth's elliptical orbit and tilt), gives apparent solar times. Most calculators apply a standard atmospheric refraction allowance of about 0.833 degrees below the geometric horizon, which is why the sun appears to rise slightly before and set slightly after its true geometric crossing.

Common uses include photographers planning the golden hour and blue hour, gardeners tracking daylight length across the growing season, solar panel owners estimating peak production windows, and travelers anticipating daylight at a destination. The tool is also handy for observing seasonal extremes: the longest days near the summer solstice and the shortest near the winter solstice, with near-equal day and night at the equinoxes.

For best accuracy, enter coordinates rather than a broad city name, since sunrise can vary by minutes across a metro area. Remember that twilight (when the sky is still lit but the sun is below the horizon) extends beyond these times, so add roughly 20 to 40 minutes of usable light at typical latitudes. At high latitudes near the poles you may see polar day or polar night, where the sun never sets or never rises, and the calculator will flag those edge cases.