Sunrise at what time. How to predict a beautiful sunset or sunrise

If our planet did not revolve around the Sun and was absolutely flat, the celestial body would always be at the zenith and would not move anywhere - there would be no sunset, no dawn, no life. Fortunately, we have the opportunity to watch the sun rise and set - and therefore life on planet Earth continues.

The Earth tirelessly moves around the Sun and its axis, and once a day (with the exception of polar latitudes) the solar disk appears and disappears beyond the horizon, indicating the beginning and end of daylight hours. Therefore, in astronomy, sunrise and sunset are the times when the top point of the solar disk appears or disappears above the horizon.

In turn, the period before sunrise or sunset is called twilight: the solar disk is located close to the horizon, and therefore some of the rays, entering the upper layers of the atmosphere, are reflected from it onto the earth's surface. The duration of twilight before sunrise or sunset directly depends on latitude: at the poles they last from 2 to 3 weeks, in the polar zones - several hours, in temperate latitudes - about two hours. But at the equator, the time before sunrise is from 20 to 25 minutes.

During sunrise and sunset, a certain optical effect is created when the sun's rays illuminate the earth's surface and sky, coloring them in multi-colored tones. Before sunrise, at dawn, the colors have more delicate shades, while sunset illuminates the planet with rays of rich red, burgundy, yellow, orange and very rarely green.

The sunset has such an intensity of colors due to the fact that during the day the earth's surface warms up, humidity decreases, the speed of air flows increases, and dust rises into the air. The difference in color between sunrise and sunset largely depends on the area where a person is located and observes these amazing natural phenomena.

External characteristics of a wondrous natural phenomenon

Since the sunrise and sunset can be spoken of as two identical phenomena that differ from each other in the saturation of colors, the description of the sun setting over the horizon can also be applied to the time before sunrise and its appearance, only in the reverse order.

The lower the solar disk descends to the western horizon, the less bright it becomes and first turns yellow, then orange and finally red. The sky also changes its color: at first it is golden, then orange, and at the edge - red.

When the solar disk comes close to the horizon, it acquires a dark red color, and on both sides of it you can see a bright streak of dawn, the colors of which from top to bottom go from bluish-green to bright orange tones. At the same time, a colorless glow forms above the dawn.

Simultaneously with this phenomenon, on the opposite side of the sky, a stripe of an ash-bluish hue (the shadow of the Earth) appears, above which you can see a segment of orange-pink color, the Belt of Venus - it appears above the horizon at an altitude of 10 to 20 ° and in a clear sky visible anywhere on our planet.

The further the Sun goes beyond the horizon, the more purple the sky becomes, and when it drops four to five degrees below the horizon, the shade acquires the most saturated tones. After this, the sky gradually becomes fiery red (Buddha’s rays), and from the place where the sun’s disk set, stripes of light rays stretch upward, gradually fading, after the disappearance of which a fading strip of dark red color can be seen near the horizon.

After the shadow of the Earth gradually fills the sky, the Belt of Venus dissipates, the silhouette of the Moon appears in the sky, then the stars - and night falls (twilight ends when the solar disk goes six degrees below the horizon). The more time passes after the Sun leaves the horizon, the colder it becomes, and by the morning, before sunrise, the lowest temperature is observed. But everything changes when, a few hours later, the red Sun begins to rise: the solar disk appears in the east, the night goes away, and the earth’s surface begins to warm up.

Why is the sun red

The sunset and sunrise of the red Sun has attracted the attention of mankind since ancient times, and therefore people, using all the methods available to them, tried to explain why the solar disk, being yellow, acquires a reddish tint on the horizon line. The first attempt to explain this phenomenon was legends, followed by folk signs: people were sure that the sunset and rise of the red Sun did not bode well.

For example, they were convinced that if the sky remained red for a long time after sunrise, the day would be unbearably hot. Another sign said that if before sunrise the sky in the east is red, and after sunrise this color immediately disappears, it will rain. The rising of the red Sun also promised bad weather if, after its appearance in the sky, it immediately acquired a light yellow color.

The rising of the red Sun in such an interpretation could hardly satisfy the inquisitive human mind for long. Therefore, after the discovery of various physical laws, including Rayleigh’s law, it was found that the red color of the Sun is explained by the fact that it, as having the longest wave, scatters much less in the dense atmosphere of the Earth than other colors.

Therefore, when the Sun is at the horizon, its rays slide along the earth's surface, where the air has not only the highest density, but also extremely high humidity at this time, which delays and absorbs the rays. As a result, only rays of red and orange colors are able to break through the dense and humid atmosphere in the first minutes of sunrise.

Sunrise and sunset

Although many people believe that in the northern hemisphere the earliest sunset occurs on December 21, and the latest on June 21, in reality this opinion is erroneous: the days of the winter and summer solstices are only dates that indicate the presence of the shortest or longest day of the year.

Interestingly, the further north the latitude, the closer to the solstice the latest sunset of the year occurs. For example, in 2014, at a latitude of sixty-two degrees, it occurred on June 23. But at the thirty-fifth latitude, the latest sunset of the year occurred six days later (the earliest sunrise was recorded two weeks earlier, a few days before June 21).

Without a special calendar at hand, it is quite difficult to determine the exact time of sunrise and sunset. This is explained by the fact that while rotating uniformly around its axis and the Sun, the Earth moves unevenly in an elliptical orbit. It is worth noting that if our planet were moving around the Sun, such an effect would not be observed.

Humanity noticed such time deviations a long time ago, and therefore throughout their history people have tried to clarify this issue for themselves: the ancient structures they erected, extremely reminiscent of observatories, have survived to this day (for example, Stonehenge in England or the Mayan pyramids in America).

Over the past few centuries, astronomers have created lunar and solar calendars by observing the sky to calculate the time of sunrise and sunset. Nowadays, thanks to the virtual network, any Internet user can calculate sunrise and sunset using special online services - to do this, just indicate the city or geographic coordinates (if the required area is not on the map), as well as the required date.

Interestingly, with the help of such calendars you can often find out not only the time of sunset or dawn, but also the period between the beginning of twilight and before sunrise, the length of day/night, the time when the Sun will be at its zenith, and much more.

The natural phenomenon that we call sunset is a period of time when the celestial body moves towards the horizon, gradually disappearing behind it. Sunrise represents the opposite process - the appearance of the solar disk from behind the horizon. Both of these phenomena are very similar to each other, the only thing that distinguishes them is that sunsets are mostly saturated with brighter colors and unexpected play of colors, and therefore are more interesting for artists and photographers.

Let's consider the features of the sunset process. The lower it goes to the horizon, the more it loses its brightness and acquires a reddish color. A change in the color of a star entails changes in the entire celestial color. The sky near the Sun becomes red, yellow and orange, and on the part of the sky that is antisolar, a pale stripe of light color becomes noticeable.

When the solar disk reaches the horizon, it turns dark red, and we can observe bright stripes of dawn that spread in all directions from it. Zarya has a complex range of colors, from orange below to greenish-blue above. At dawn you can see a round glow that has no color.

At the same time, the dark shadow of the Earth rises above the opposite part of the horizon line; it is separated from the light part of the sky by a strip of pink-orange color, which is called the Belt of Venus.

This phenomenon can be observed anywhere on our planet; a clear sky is a prerequisite. The color of the Belt is due to the fact that the rays of the setting sun, which have an orange-red color, are scattered.

The sun, which sinks lower and lower below the horizon, turns the sky an intense purple color. This phenomenon did not go unnoticed by scientists and was called Purple Light.

This natural phenomenon is most noticeable when the sun is 5 degrees below the horizon. The purple light makes the sky look grand and infinitely beautiful. Everything is painted scarlet, purple, violet and from this it acquires mystery and mystical outlines.

The magnificence of the purple color gives way to the Buddha Rays. This natural phenomenon is characterized by fiery red tones, with rays diverging upward from the place of sunset, which are distinct light stripes.

Saying goodbye to the Earth with the Rays of Buddha, the Sun goes to a well-deserved rest. The only thing that reminds us of it is a dark red stripe lying on the horizon line, which gradually fades away. Day follows night.

This example is just one of many possible ways in which a sunset could develop. This phenomenon amazes with its diversity and inconstancy, with ever newer and newer forms.

On our website you can use a calculator and calculate the time of sunrise and sunset anywhere in the world.

What could be more beautiful and emotional than a magnificent moment when the sun disappearing over the horizon illuminates everything around with a bright light? I invite you to admire a selection of very beautiful landscapes with sunsets

We continue our series of collections with beautiful sunset photos. Previously, we admired photographs of mountain sunsets, but now we will tell you more about this phenomenon in general


This beautiful phenomenon is explained by atmospheric diffraction - the refraction of light. This is the process where rays of light from the sun change direction as they pass through the Earth's atmosphere and collide with different layers of air. At this time of day, the brightness and intensity of the rainbow also increases, appearing much brighter than usual


Light rays are scattered through the layers of the atmosphere into many waves of different lengths and sizes. At this time, violet and blue colors are scattered much more strongly than yellow and red. This is why red and orange hues predominate during sunset.

During the day, the Earth's atmosphere heats up, winds raise clouds of dust - all this affects the passage of sunlight through the atmosphere. The amazing thing is that each sunset is unique, like a human fingerprint. Sunset cannot be repeated the same way, just as the same atmospheric conditions at the time of sunset cannot occur every time


Surely many of you have wondered what sunsets look like on other planets and whether they exist there at all. Something similar can be seen on Mars, but the lack of a real atmosphere inevitably means a lack of light. Thus, on no other planet will it be possible to observe the same beautiful sunsets as on Earth. We should be grateful to nature for this splendor and enjoy this beauty every evening

Sometimes, for example, when going on a hike, it is extremely important for us to know the time of sunrise and sunset. I want to find myself in civilized places before dark. But how can we calculate when to leave and when to return? Easily! Look at the tear-off calendar. There, for each day, it is indicated exactly to the minute when the sun rises and when it sets. Add to this another half an hour to an hour (depending on the distance from the equator and clear/cloudy weather) for the morning dawn and evening twilight, and you will get the length of the daylight hours.

However, this advice - to be guided by a tear-off calendar - has one problem. This way we will know the time of sunrise and sunset, for example, in Moscow, but not in our area. And here we must move from lyrics to the dry language of numbers. Ready? Then read our article and calculate the daylight hours for your area.

What geographical parameters are involved in the calculation?

In relation to our star, planet Earth rotates at a speed of fifteen degrees per hour. The Sun occupies its highest position in the sky at noon. And at this point it is necessary to take into account the adjustment for possible summer time, when the chronometers of many countries arbitrarily (that is, without coordination with the Cosmos) are moved forward an hour. Then the sun is at its zenith at one o'clock in the afternoon. But that's not all.

There is also the concept of “true noon”. The earth is divided into time zones. Each of them is a fairly vast territory. Therefore, in settlements located east or west of the hour meridian (where noon occurs exactly at 12:00), it is observed earlier or later. It is therefore necessary to establish the longitude at which the settlement of interest to us is located. To determine sunrise/sunset, we also need to know the latitude of the area relative to the equator.

Magical dates of the equinox and solstice

Twice a year the Earth turns towards our star at an angle of 90 degrees. This year it will happen on March 19 and September 22. On these days, anywhere on the planet, sunrise and sunset will occur at six o'clock (morning and evening, respectively). That's when it's convenient to calculate local time! In the north, twilight and dawn play for a long time in the sky. In tropical latitudes, the sun dives below the horizon quickly. But this is not the main thing. After all, daylight hours may become optically shorter due to simple cloudiness.

There are two more dates to remember: the winter and summer solstice. For the northern hemisphere, December 21 is the day with the longest night. And on June 21, the sun is in no hurry to leave the sky. On this date, night does not fall in the Arctic Circle, and December 21 does not give way to day. But when does dawn occur on the summer and winter solstice in the area of ​​interest to us?

Sunrise and sunset in Moscow

Let's consider an algorithm for calculating the duration of daylight hours and, therefore, the times of dawn and sunset using the example of the capital. On the nineteenth of March in Moscow, as well as everywhere on the globe, there will be twelve hours of light. But since the metropolis is located just east of the UTC +3 hour meridian, the sun will rise there not at 6:00, but at 6:38. And he will also come in at 18:38. Daylight continues to increase, reaching its peak at seventeen hours and twenty-five minutes on June 20th. We can easily determine sunrise and sunset for Moscow on this date. Noon there begins at 12:38. Then it turns out that the sun rises at 3:48 and sets at 21:13. Do you already know the deviation from the hour meridian in your locality? When is true noon there?

Sunrise and sunset at the selected location

The dates of the equinox and solstice can be the starting data for calculations. On March 20, both on the Arctic Circle and on the equator, the sun will rise at 6:00, and sunset will be at 18:00. Here we take into account the deviation from the hour meridian. After the spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, daylight begins to increase, reaching its apogee on June 21. In the Arctic Circle, sunrise and sunset occur at 0:00. Consequently, daylight hours last twenty-four hours. But at the equator everything remains the same: dawn at 6:00, sunset at 18:00. The higher the latitude, the longer the daylight hours increase, the earlier the sun rises and the later it sets.

Knowing the geographic coordinates of a point, it is easy to calculate the time of dawn and sunset. We derive the formula. Let's find out how many days are between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. Ninety-two days. We also know how many hours of daylight there are on the summer solstice. Let's say eighteen hours. 18 - 12 = 6. Divide six hours by 92. The result is how many minutes each day of daylight increases by. Let's divide it by two. This is how much earlier the sun rises compared to yesterday.

· 08/08/2015

Article text updated: 12/28/2017

About two years ago, in mid-June, I couldn’t sleep, so I got up at 3 am, took a tripod, a photo backpack with a camera and drove by car 40 kilometers from Yekaterinburg to a forest swamp. I wanted to shoot a gorgeous sunrise: bloody rays color the fog spreading over the black water with scarlet. However, expectations turned out to be too high: the nondescript sun colored the gray sky with a barely noticeable dawn and that was all over. And it didn’t stand at all in the place where I expected and where I wanted to build the composition. To add to the disappointment, I was also annoyed by the mosquitoes: I forgot to take repellent with me, I dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, which these little vampires did not fail to take advantage of. Returning home, scratching the bites, I thought that it would be nice to know some signs that would allow me to predict when the sky at dawn or sunset would be especially beautiful.

1. Have you come to photograph the sunset? But he’s not there... Shot on a Sony DSC-W15 point-and-shoot camera

The question of how to find out in which direction the sun will shine at sunset or dawn was solved quickly and simply. There is an excellent website that provides indispensable services for photographers (Suncalc.net). You see a Google map and select a shooting point. Using the diagram, you can judge where the sunrise will occur, where the sunset will occur, and how the luminary will change its position during the day. We also see when morning and evening twilight begin and end. As we know, the golden hour of photography lasts approximately half an hour at dusk and 2 hours in the morning and evening.

How to determine whether a sunset or sunrise will be beautiful turned out to be more difficult. I searched through a bunch of Russian-language resources, but I still couldn’t find the answer. And recently I came across information on the English-language segment of the Internet, where professional photographers share their observations. In today's article I will try to systematize what I read.

Note. I started taking photographs with a DSLR at the end of 2011. During this time, I was only lucky enough to catch more or less beautiful sunrises and sunsets a few times. More often, celestial extravaganzas happen when you don’t have a camera with you...

And, unfortunately, I was not able to photograph the beautiful landscapes. I looked in my archive for illustrations for this article - there are no decent photos. Therefore, excuse me, dear guests of the site, the pictures will be repeated (you have seen some of them in other photography lessons), and they are not masterpieces, unfortunately.

Forecast of magnificent sunrises and sunsets

All children of the “why” age ask the same question: “Why is the sky blue?” But as photographers looking to photograph our masterpiece, we wonder why it turns red when the sun sets.

At dawn, the light can paint the sky in all the colors of the rainbow. When the sun's rays enter the Earth's atmosphere, short wavelengths of blue light are scattered in all directions, more than all other colors, making the sky appear blue during the daytime. But during the morning or evening dawn, due to the low position of the sun, the light travels a longer path across the sky, through a thicker layer of the atmosphere, in which short-wave colors are more strongly scattered, and only red and yellow waves, as the longest ones, make their way through this barrier.

It's safe to say that both professional photographers and beginners just beginning to take an interest in photography would dream of having at their disposal a magic formula that allows them to predict whether there will be a beautiful sunset tonight. I don’t have such a gift for you, but you can pay attention to some signs that will increase your chances of success.

Let's take a closer look at some other factors that will predict a bright sky at dawn. Scottish shepherds have a saying that could be translated into Russian something like this: “A scarlet sunset is joy for the shepherd, a red sunrise is a reason to worry.” Well, that is, if the sky turns red in the evening, it means there will be no rain at night, and if the dawn turns red, it will rain during the day. This folk wisdom can help us predict the beauty at sunset (and dawn) if we also look at the weather forecast. Look at the red sky at dawn before a storm and at sunset after a storm. Knowing how to predict the weather is key to choosing the right photography conditions, so the first thing we should do is find a good weather website or smartphone app.

Usually I use the site Gismeteo.ru, which is quite accurate, in hourly mode you can see important indicators: cloud type, temperature, humidity and wind speed.

Clouds and cloud cover

The presence of clouds is a crucial factor in predicting a dramatic sunset, as without them there is not much to see. A common misconception among photographers who want to capture a colorful sunset is the idea that clouds create the colors. In fact, clouds serve only as a canvas on which sunlight paints its pictures.

The most suitable canvases are high and mid level clouds as they reflect the light of the setting sun. Lush clouds on the horizon will most likely not let the sun's rays through their thickness, which will mute the colors.

This photo was taken during the first test of the Samyang 14/2.8 wide after purchasing it. Can .

Low clouds, such as black clouds full of rain, are also not very good helpers, since they reflect little light. If the clouds on the horizon are too low and too thick, the sun's rays will not break through. Also, you shouldn’t expect a beautiful sunset if there are only a few clouds flying in the sky, or vice versa - the sky is covered with a very large number of clouds: you won’t get a great photo. In general, cloud cover at sunset should cover 30-70% of the sky.

4. There will be a thunderstorm... Before sunset. Example photo taken with Nikon D5100 and Samayng 14/2.8. Three frame HDR

We look at the sky in the afternoon and, if it looks promising, we hope that the clouds will not go away in the evening. Of course, no one will give guarantees, but if the wind is not strong, perhaps the clouds will circle around and contribute to a beautiful sunset.

I was surprised: it turns out that there is an international atlas of clouds and there are dozens of types of them. Here is a brief description of the main types that can show off a grand sunset:

• Cirrocumulus– look like flakes or ripples on the water. Behind them, usually, there is always a blue sky.

5. Sunset with cirrocumulus clouds. Shot on Nikon D5100 KIT 18-55 VR. Photo - HDR of three photographs.

• Altocumulus (altocumulus)– often appear as plates or flakes, sometimes coalescing into a wavy, rounded mass or rolls like small cotton balls. They are usually white or gray in color and appear after a thunderstorm.

6. An example of HDR from 3 images taken on a Nikon D5100 KIT 18-55. Different types of clouds can be present in the sky at the same time. Here, it seems to me, there are altocumulus clouds above, cirrocumulus below.

• Cumulus– easily recognizable, huge, white and fluffy, often with a flat base.

• Cirrus-thin strands like haze. These clouds appear before the weather turns bad. However, this type of cloud cover is best for capturing stunning sunsets.

If you enter Latin names into Google Images, you can see what a particular type of cloud looks like. .

Transparent air and the beauty of the sunset

Clean air effectively scatters blue light. For this reason, one of the best times to capture a stunning sunset is immediately after a rain or storm. In the tropics and in the open ocean, clouds often hang over the horizon, they do not reflect bright colors well (as mentioned above), but the atmosphere below them is especially transparent. It allows pure color to pass through, and for this reason, photographers bring back so many pictures of magnificent sunsets from vacations in tropical countries.

Humidity and sunset sky

The color of the sunset sky is also influenced by the amount of air humidity. Low values ​​produce more saturated colors. When humidity is high, the color is muted due to the water content in the atmosphere. Typically, air humidity is lower in autumn and winter than in the warm season.

How does the wind affect the beauty of sunset and sunrise?

This is a factor that can help capture a beautiful sunset or sunrise, or it can completely destroy all the photographer’s hopes. A change in the direction of movement of air masses can lead to the formation of “ripples” and “waves”, on the crests of which the sunset light is beautifully reflected in red. Also, as noted above, colors are more vibrant in clear, clean air, so a gentle breeze at sunset helps clear the atmosphere.

Unfortunately, the wind can also have a negative impact on the beauty of the sunset, when, for example, we saw beautiful clouds in the afternoon, and a moving atmospheric front blew them away from the sky, leaving the photographer with clear skies at sunset.

Here's another example where a good weather forecast on your home computer or smartphone app can tell us when an atmospheric front will pass through the area above us.

So, to catch a beautiful sunset you need the following factors to coincide:

• Clouds floating in the middle or high
• Cloud cover covers 30 to 70 percent of the sky
• Clear air
• Low humidity
• Calm weather

And finally, when photographing a sunset, do not forget that sometimes after sunset there is a residual glow in the sky. It happens 15-20 minutes after the star has hidden below the horizon. And such a dawn can look much more beautiful than the sunset itself.

In general, all these rules for predicting sunset by weather also apply to photographing dawn. But visual signals are more difficult to recognize because the shooting location will be dark before sunrise. Good times for sunrise photography are fall and winter, since during these seasons the sun rises much later than in summer and spring.

Examples of sunset photos taken with a cropped Nikon D90 DSLR with different lenses

As you can see, I was not very successful in taking beautiful photos at sunset or dawn. I had to turn to my colleagues for help. Let's show landscapes taken with an advanced amateur Nikon D90 SLR camera by a photographer from Moscow named Svetlana. And at the same time I’ll try to write a comparison of the parameters of this camera with more modern models of the Nikon D3xx, D5xx, D7xx series and an expensive camera from a competitor - Canon EOS 70D.