Sunrise and Sunset Calculator

Written byOleh Soloninupdated 25 September 2026

Latitude

Longitude

Time zone, UTC±

Date

Result

Sunrise06:33
Sunset18:42
Length of day12 h 9 min
Solar noon12:38
Civil twilight05:56 — 19:19
Change+4.6 min by tomorrow

Solar noon is almost never twelve o'clock

Calculates sunrise, sunset, solar noon and civil twilight for any coordinates and date, along with how the day is changing.

Sunrise depends on three things: where you are along the meridian, how far you are from the equator, and the date. Clock time then adds a fourth, because time zones are political rather than solar.

That is why solar noon in Moscow falls near half past twelve rather than at twelve: the city sits west of the meridian its zone is named after. The calculation follows the NOAA formulas, which NOAA rates at about a minute between 72° S and 72° N and up to ten minutes nearer the poles; the horizon and the atmosphere add their own error.

How to use

Enter the latitude and longitude of the place, both positive to the north and east.
Enter the offset from UTC that is in force on that date, summer time included.
Pick the date; the fields start on the spring equinox.
Read solar noon as well as the two times — it tells you how far the clock sits from the sun.

Moscow through the four corners of the year

Each row is a run of this calculator for 55.75° N, 37.62° E at UTC+3. Only the date changes.

Solar noon is the column worth watching. It never lands on twelve: across these four dates it moves between 12:22 and 12:38, and across the whole year by about half an hour, even though the place does not move at all. Two things stack up: Moscow sits 7.4 degrees west of the 45th meridian its zone is named after, which is half an hour of sun, and the equation of time then pushes noon back and forth on top of that.

Runs of this calculator for 55.75° N, 37.62° E at UTC+3.
Date	Sunrise	Sunset	Solar noon	Day length
20 March 2026	06:33	18:42	12:38	12 h 9 min
21 June 2026	03:44	21:18	12:31	17 h 34 min
23 September 2026	06:15	18:28	12:22	12 h 12 min
21 December 2026	08:57	15:58	12:28	7 h 0 min

What this calculator shows

Sunrise, sunset and solar noon in local clock time
The length of the day and how much it changes by tomorrow
The civil twilight window at each end of the day

What to keep in mind

Sunrise is taken at a zenith of 90.833°, which allows for refraction and for the radius of the solar disc.
The horizon is assumed flat. Mountains to the east delay sunrise noticeably, and no formula knows about them.

FAQs

Why is the equinox day longer than twelve hours?

Two reasons together. Sunrise is the moment the upper edge appears rather than the centre, and refraction raises the apparent position of the sun by about half a degree.

Why is solar noon not at twelve?

Because a time zone covers fifteen degrees of longitude and the whole zone keeps one clock. Add the equation of time, which swings solar noon by up to a quarter of an hour across the year.

What is civil twilight?

The period when the sun is up to six degrees below the horizon: still light enough to read outdoors and to see the brightest stars.

Does it work above the Arctic Circle?

Yes. When the sun neither rises nor sets, the tool says so and names it as polar day or polar night rather than returning a time.

Which sign does the longitude take?

Positive east of Greenwich, negative west — the same convention your phone and any map use. New York goes in as −74.01, Tokyo as 139.69. Get the sign wrong and the times come out symmetric about noon but hours away from the truth.

Do I include summer time in the offset?

Yes, enter the offset that is actually in force on that date. The calculator has no calendar of national rules, so it takes your number at face value: UTC+1 for Berlin in January and UTC+2 for Berlin in July.

Worked example

Moscow at the equinox

Input: 55.75° N, 37.62° E, UTC+3, 20 March 2026

Output: sunrise 06:33, sunset 18:42

Note: The day comes to 12 hours 9 minutes — longer than the twelve the equinox is supposed to give, because sunrise counts the first edge of the disc and the atmosphere lifts the image.

Useful links

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Result

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