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Golden hour and blue hour calculator
Sunrise, sunset, golden hour and blue hour times for any date and place, with the sun direction, worked out on your device with no account needed.
All tools- Golden hour, evening
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- Sunrise
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- Sunset
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- Solar noon
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- Daylight
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- Blue hour, morning
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- Blue hour, evening
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- Golden hour, morning
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How it works
The method behind the numbers.
Times come from the NOAA Solar Calculator, which follows Jean Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms. It finds the sun's declination and the equation of time for the date, then the hour angle at which the sun reaches a chosen height above the horizon. Nothing is looked up or sent anywhere; it is arithmetic on your device, good to about a minute at mid latitudes.
cos H = (sin h − sin φ · sin δ) ÷ (cos φ · cos δ)
noon = 12:00 − 4 min/° × longitude − equation of time + UTC offset
rise = noon − 4 min/° × H set = noon + 4 min/° × Hh is the sun's height, φ the latitude and δ the declination. Sunrise and sunset use h = −0.833°, which allows for the sun's radius and average atmospheric refraction. Civil, nautical and astronomical twilight end at −6°, −12° and −18°.
- Golden hour (the sun from 6° above the horizon to 4° below) and blue hour (−4° to −8°) are photographers' conventions, not astronomical definitions. Other sources pick slightly different limits, so treat the edges as soft.
- Weather, hills and tall buildings change the light you actually get. Arrive early and check the horizon in the direction the sun will be.
- The time zone applies one UTC offset for the whole date. On the day clocks change the times before the change can be an hour out.
- North of the Arctic Circle, or south of the Antarctic Circle, the sun can stay up or down all day. Those dates show the situation instead of a time.
- The sun direction is the compass bearing from true north, not magnetic north.