🌅 Sunrise & Sunset Calculator
Enter your latitude and the day of the year to estimate the length of the day plus sunrise and sunset in solar time — and see how the summer sun stretches daylight at your latitude.
☀️ How Long Is the Day?
What is a Sunrise & Sunset Calculator?
It works out how much daylight a place gets on a given day from just two inputs — your latitude and the day of the year. Behind the scenes it computes the Sun's declination and solves the sunrise equation to give the day length and sunrise/sunset times in solar time, centred on solar noon.
Use it to plan around the sun during the long days of summer: schedule a hike, a run, or garden work for the cooler morning and evening hours, or see just how early the sun climbs during a heatwave. It's a documented astronomical estimate that ignores refraction and time-zone offsets — verify precise times with an official almanac.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
How does this calculate sunrise and sunset?
It uses two standard astronomical steps: first it finds the Sun's declination for the day of year, then it solves the sunrise hour-angle equation from your latitude to get the length of the day. Sunrise and sunset are placed symmetrically around solar noon, so a 14-hour day runs from 05:00 to 19:00 in solar time.
Why are the times in 'solar time' rather than clock time?
The tool works in local apparent solar time — noon is when the Sun is highest — with no longitude or time-zone correction. Your civil clock time differs by your position within your time zone, any daylight-saving offset, and the equation of time. To get clock times, shift these by that offset. The day length itself, however, is accurate regardless of time zone.
Why are summer days so much longer at higher latitudes?
In summer the hemisphere tilts toward the Sun, so from mid-latitudes the Sun traces a long, high arc and spends more of the 24 hours above the horizon. At 40° latitude the summer-solstice day runs close to 15 hours, while on the equator every day stays near 12 hours year-round. The higher your latitude, the more extreme the seasonal swing.
Why do long summer days matter for heat?
More hours of direct sun mean more solar energy heating the ground and air, and shorter nights give less time for things to cool down — a big reason heat builds up through a heatwave. Knowing when the sun rises and sets helps you schedule outdoor work and exercise for the cooler ends of the day. This is an astronomical estimate; verify exact times with an official almanac.