Daylight Explorer | Where Is the Sun Right Now?

Calculation health

Calculated locally

Zero solar-data API calls. Change time or click anywhere on Earth.

Date & time

Control is interpreted as UTC. Results below show UTC to avoid ambiguous political time-zone boundaries.

Selected point

Latitude—Longitude—Solar elevation—Solar azimuth—Solar noon—Sunrise—Sunset—Day length—Civil twilight—Nautical twilight—Astronomical twilight—

Global geometry

Subsolar latitude—Subsolar longitude—Equation of time—

What is calculated

The yellow marker is the subsolar point, where the Sun is overhead. The blue curve is the geometric day/night terminator. Sunrise and sunset use the conventional −0.833° solar elevation to approximate refraction and the solar disc radius. Twilight boundaries use −6°, −12° and −18°. Polar day/night is reported when no crossing exists.

Sources & assumptions

Method reference: NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory Solar Calculation Details. NOAA says its calculator is no longer actively maintained; its equations are based on Jean Meeus and theoretical sunrise/sunset accuracy is about one minute between ±72° latitude and about ten minutes outside that range, while atmospheric conditions can change observed times. This map is an independent client-side implementation, not a NOAA product. Basemap © OpenStreetMap contributors. Rendering: Leaflet 1.9.4.

Source & license notes

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