by Dr. Irv Bromberg, University of Toronto, Canada
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Calendars LISTSERVTwilight is that period of dusk after sunset or dawn before sunrise during which the sky is partially lit by atmospheric scattering of sunlight. The duration of twilight after sunset or before sunrise depends on atmospheric conditions (clouds, dust, air pressure, temperature, humidity) and on the angle between the local horizon and the path of the setting or rising sun (mainly affects the durations of sunrise, sunset, and civil twilight), and on the diurnal solar path of Sun in the antipodal sky (opposite hemisphere, mainly affects the durations of nautical and astronomical twilight), all of which vary with the seasons (specifically the solar declination) and the terrestrial latitude.
Astronomical sunrise is the moment when the upper limb of Sun first appears at the local easterly horizon. Astronomical sunset is the moment when the upper limb of Sun just disappears below the local westerly horizon. From sunrise to sunset a horizontally mounted sundial in an open area will display the local apparent time of day, if any part of the solar disk has a direct illumination path to that sundial.
Generally the sky brightness after sunset or before sunrise correlates with the degree of solar depression, that is the angle between the sea level horizon, the center of Earth, and the center of the solar disk (ignoring the elevation of the locale and the slightly raised apparent level of the local horizon caused by atmospheric refraction). Thus various stages of twilight are defined in terms of the solar depression angle, in degrees.
Clouds can either shorten the duration of twilight or darken its stages, if the clouds are dense and darken the sky, especially if they obstruct sunlight, or they may prolong the duration or brighten its stages, if there is clear sky to the west below the horizon allowing sunlight to reflect from the clouds.
A planet or moon without an atmosphere has no twilight periods before sunrise or after sunset, and stars are visible at all times, even during the daytime. (Stars aren’t visible in most of the lunar landing photos from the NASA Apollo Program because the lunar surface under direct solar illumination was so bright that camera f-stops had to be stopped down to small apertures, making stars too dim — for further explanation see Why Aren’t There Stars in the Moon Landing Photos?).
Civil twilight ends after sunset or begins before sunrise when the solar depression angle is 6° = solar zenith angle 96° = solar elevation angle −6°. There is enough light during civil twilight for most outdoor activities, and only the brightest planets and stars are visible. When the solar depression angle is greater than 6° artificial lighting is required for reading and for most outdoor activities. The end of civil twilight after sunset or the beginning of civil twilight before sunrise are considered the beginning or end of night for aviation purposes, respectively.
Nautical twilight ends after sunset or begins before sunrise when the solar depression angle is 12° = solar zenith angle 102° = solar elevation angle −12°. At sea during nautical twilight the horizon is visible as a line separating the sky from the water. When the solar depression angle is greater than 12° the sky is too dark to distinguish from the sea at the horizon.
Astronomical twilight ends after sunset or begins before sunrise when the solar depression angle is 18° = solar zenith angle 108° = solar elevation angle −18°. During astronomical twilight it is not dark enough to see dim stars, galaxies, or nebulae, even with a good telescope. When the solar depression angle is greater than 18° the sky is as dark as it can ever get (depending on the lunar location and phase), atmospheric sunlight scatter is minimal, and dim stars, galaxies, and nebulae are telescopically detectable.
Modern portable computer-controlled telescopes must be aligned with known bright stars before they are ready to automatically point at more challenging targets. It is convenient to set up such a telescope during the evening nautical twilight when the brightest stars are visible and easy to find, then go for a coffee break until the end of astronomical twilight, and then get down to the business of star gazing. Unfortunately, during the most pleasant summer months for star gazing in my home country of Canada (June and July) astronomical twilight continues for most or all of the night time, therefore chilly autumn nights are best for star gazing in Canada. It so happens that the 49th parallel that separates western Canada from the USA corresponds very closely to the latitude north of which astronomical twilight continues all night near the summer solstice (June 10th through July 1st, that is ±10 days from the solstice at 49° north latitude).
At high latitudes during the summer time astronomical twilight after sunset can continue into astronomical twilight before sunrise, if the solar depression angle is less than 18° at local apparent midnight. Likewise, at higher latitudes during the summer time the evening nautical twilight can continue into the morning nautical twilight if the solar depression angle is less than 12° at local apparent midnight. At even higher latitudes during the summer time the evening civil twilight can continue into the morning civil twilight if the solar depression angle is less than 6° at local apparent midnight. Of course, at even higher latitudes there won’t be any twilight on dates when any part of the solar disk remains above the horizon at local apparent midnight.
Instead of solar depression angles, some prefer to use zenith angles, that is the angle between the point that is directly overhead and the center of the solar disk. The civil, nautical, and astronomical twilight zenith angles are 96°, 102°, and 108°, respectively. I prefer not to use zenith angles because most people are unable to accurately pinpoint the zenith without instrumental assistance. Alternatively, the civil, nautical, and astronomical twilight angles correspond to –6°, –12°, and –18° of solar altitude, respectively.
I have built into my Kalendis Calendar Calculator, which is free software for Windows that you can download from there, the ability to display and export various time and astronomy values, including the moments of civil, nautical, and astronomical twilight for any specified locale. An example of such a report, in web page format and calculated for the locale of Greenwich, can be seen by clicking here.
Various stages and durations of dusk and/or dawn twilight are of ritual significance to several religions, especially those that start calendar dates at sunset or sunrise.
For further introductory information about civil, nautical, and astronomical twilight please see:
Rise, Set, and Twilight Definitionsweb page at <https://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/RST_defs>
Twilightweb page at <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight>
Twilight, Dawn, and Duskweb page at <https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/different-types-twilight.html>
Solar Dialface (available as of watchOS 6)
Solar Dial]
Functions for the calculation of the moments of sunset and sunrise, the moment corresponding to a specified solar depression angle, the solar longitude and the moment when Sun is at a specified solar longitude, as well as calendar and time-of-day functions were explained by Professors Edward M. Reingold and Nachum Dershowitz in their excellent book entitled Calendrical Calculations: The Ultimate Edition
, 4th edition published in 2018 by Cambridge University Press, see also <https://www.cs.tau.ac.il/~nachum/calendar-book/fourth-edition/> and their on-line errata.
Two excellent books written by Jean Meeus and originally published by Willmann-Bell, USA <https://shopatsky.com/collections/willmann-bell> include important discussion of the mathematics of the duration of twilight:
The basis for and calculation of the shortest and longest twilight was explained by Jean Meeus in his book More Mathematical Astronomy Morsels
(2002) <https://shopatsky.com/products/more-mathematical-astronomical-morsels> on pages 368-379 (chapter 65: The shortest and the longest twilight
).
The calculation of the parallactic angle at the horizon, which is the primary predictable determinant of the durations of sunrise, sunset, and civil twilight, was explained by Jean Meeus in his book Astronomical Algorithms
(second edition, 1998) <https://shopatsky.com/products/astronomical-algorithms-2nd-edition> on pages 97-100 (chapter 14: The Parallactic Angle
). At sunrise or sunset only, where it equals the angle made by the diurnal solar path with the horizon, the solar parallactic angle is given by:
solar parallactic angle at sunrise or sunset = arccosine[ sine( geographic latitude ) / cosine( solar declination ) ]
where all angles are in degrees.
From the chart, note that the horizon solar parallactic angle has minimal seasonal variations at tropical latitudes and relatively small variations at temperate latitudes. At polar latitudes the chart shows an angle of 0° for solar declinations that have no sunrise and no sunset.
Definitions:
Variations of the duration of sunrise and sunset are related to the duration of civil twilight and depend mainly on the angle made by the path of the rising or setting Sun with respect to the horizon, which at the horizon equals the solar parallactic angle. The solar parallactic angle at the horizon is always 90° at the equator and is never 90° at any other latitude.
Sunrise and sunset durations are maximal in both hemispheres at the time of both solstices, and minimal near the dates of both equinoxes. Sunrise and sunset durations increase with latitude further away from the equator, reaching extremes near the arctic circle around the date of the north solstice and near the antarctic circle around the date of the south solstice. On the day of the north solstice at about a degree south of the arctic circle the solar parallactic angle is almost parallel to the horizon so Sun takes a long time to rise, spends most of 24 hours above the horizon, then takes a long time to set, whereas on the same day about a degree north of the antarctic circle the solar parallactic angle there is also almost parallel to the horizon so Sun likewise takes a long time to rise but spends very little time above the horizon, then takes a long time to set. The converse occurs on the day of the south solstice.
On average, Sun appears to move 360° per mean solar day (by definition), and has a mean diameter of about 1/2° (more accurately, slightly more = 0° 31' 59.3" at the equator, currently ranging from 31'6" to 32'7" at aphelion to from 31'27" to 32'32" at perihelion). The minimum sunrise or sunset duration occurs when the solar parallactic angle is 90°, so on such a day Sun might simply be predicted to take 86400 seconds × ( 0° 31' 59.3" / 360° ) = 2 minutes and 8 seconds to rise or set. The minimum sunrise or sunset duration in the tropics, as plotted in the charts above, is about 2 minutes and 30 seconds. This drops by 9 seconds at the equator (calculated separately but not shown). These figures are slightly longer than the simple prediction because of atmospheric refraction, which makes Sun appear above the horizon when it is actually just below it, thus slightly stretching the duration of sunrise and sunset, and the amount of refraction decreases rapidly with increasing solar altitude. By contrast, atmospheric refraction is not considered to play a significant role in the duration of twilight.
Atmospheric refraction increases with lower air temperature, higher relative humidity or high rate of moisture evaporation from the land or water in the direction of the horizon, higher air pressure, and lower altitude (lower elevation, due to higher air pressure). Atmospheric refraction also raises the apparent level of the horizon in all directions, causing the illusion that even a perfectly flat plain or the open sea is within a shallow bowl, appearing to be curved in the opposite direction to the actual curvature of Earth’s surface, which likely explains the prolonged historical and on-going reluctance of many people to accept that Earth is nearly spherical. Light from celestial objects near any horizon is subjected to greater refraction because that light passes obliquely through the full thickness of Earth’s atmosphere, whereas light from the horizon passes only from the horizon to the observer’s eyes — see Variability in the Astronomical Refraction of the Rising and Setting Sun
in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (PASP) 2003 October, 115:1256–61 
310KB.
The maximum sunrise or sunset duration at the equator (calculated separately but not shown) is 2 minutes and 34 seconds, at both solstices.
Each of the following sets of charts are plotted from the day before March 1, 2007 to the day after March 31, 2008 to span a range of dates from before the northward equinox until after the next northward equinox — the charts would appear similar for other near-present-era years. The charts show the durations of dusk twilight but the durations of dawn twilight are essentially symmetrically equal for any given degree of solar depression angle.
Each PDF is about 140KB and contains 6 pages (Civil, Nautical, and Astronomical twilight durations for the northern and southern hemispheres).
| # | Charts | Description and Comments |
|---|---|---|
| 1. |  |
If the duration of twilight is expressed in terms of mean solar minutes (normal clock time), then seasonal variations are evident for all locales, with the shortest twilight durations a few days before the spring equinox and a few days after the fall equinox, and the longest twilight durations near the summer solstice, with a lesser maximum of durations near the winter solstice. The seasonal variation and duration of twilight is minimal at the equator, where the solar parallactic angle at the horizon is always 90°, and the variations increase in amplitude and duration for locales that are progressively further away from the equator. |
| 2. | |
If the duration of twilight is expressed in terms of daytime temporal minutes (the time span from sunrise to sunset divided into 12 temporal hours per day × 60 minutes per hour = 720 daytime temporal minutes), then each stage is almost constant and minimal in duration throughout the spring and summer, except near the equator and high latitudes, the shortest twilight durations are 2-3 weeks after the spring equinox and 2-3 weeks before the fall equinox, and the longest twilight durations are near the winter solstice. |
| 3. | |
If the duration of twilight is expressed in terms of night time temporal minutes (the time span from sunset to sunrise divided into 12 temporal hours per night × 60 minutes per hour = 720 night time temporal minutes), then each stage is almost constant and minimal in duration throughout the fall and winter, except near the equator and high latitudes, and the longest twilight durations are near the summer solstice. |
| 4. | |
If the duration of twilight is expressed in terms of daytime or night time temporal minutes (whichever is longer), then each stage is almost constant in duration all year round, except near the equator and high latitudes. The switchover date for |
The following freeware Excel workbook with open-source Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros uses information about a user-selected or user-provided locale to compute the moments of sunrise/set, mid day/night, and start/end of civil/nautical/astronomical twilight (as well as zmanim) for an entire year. It produces three single-page graphic charts plus a List
sheet.
This macro-enabled workbook is compatible with Microsoft Excel 2007 or later for Windows as well as Microsoft Excel 2011 or later for macOS. The user needs to enable the execution of VBA macros to see it run. (Unfortunately, this workbook is hopelessly incompatible with LibreOffice CALC because CALC uses a different charting object model, and can’t even display the charts properly.)
Click here to download the Twilight Charter workbook (with directions chart) 
775KB
Before the first time running the workbook’s VBA macros on your computer, set your preferred page zoom percentages for each sheet and chart, typically to fill your display as desired.
Setupsheet is the main control sheet:
Localessheet lists some built-in locales that the user can select for plotting.
Listsheet are empty because they never happen in Reykjavik on those dates).
Twilightchart shows the times of twilight moments.
Zmanimchart shows the times of zmanim moments (Jewish ritual times of day and night).
Directionschart shows the sunrise and sunset times and directions (azimuth), sunrise to sunset angle, and the annual variations in the duration of daylight.
Listsheet shows detailed information about the locale, including a clickable internet map server URL, followed by a table of the dates and annual events along with their corresponding twilight and ritual moments, sunrise and sunset directions, etc.
Listsheet.
Eventssheet contains calculated equinox and solstice moments, used to plot those moments as vertical lines on the charts.
Note that the temporal time plots don’t look like the seasonal variations charts given above because those charts were in terms of the durations of twilight intervals whereas the workbook charts are in terms of the times when twilight intervals end in the morning or begin in the evening.
Compatible versions of Excel run all VBA macros more slowly if the mouse pointer hovers anywhere over the Excel window while the VBA macro is executing, so point it at the task bar or elsewhere while the VBA macro runs.
This page updated Dec 3, 2024 (Symmetry454) = Dec 5, 2024 (Symmetry010) = Dec 4, 2024 (Gregorian)