Sunrise and first light calculator

At a glance

• First light is when the sky starts to brighten, with the sun 6° below the horizon. It comes about 20 minutes before sunrise near the equator, about half an hour before at mid latitudes, and longer further north or south.
• Sunrise is when the top of the sun clears the horizon.
• Golden hour ends when the sun is 6° up. Before that, the low sun gives the warm, soft light photographers like.
• The times change every day, by up to two or three minutes a day around the equinoxes in places like London or Berlin, and they jump by an hour when the clocks change.
• Everything is worked out in your browser, with the same equations Jera uses for its sunrise alarms.

What is first light?

First light is the start of morning civil twilight, the moment the centre of the sun is 6° below the horizon. From then on there’s usually enough light outdoors to see without street lights, though the sun hasn’t appeared yet. Some people use “first light” for the earlier nautical twilight (12° below), when the horizon first becomes visible at sea; this calculator uses civil twilight, the more common meaning.

When does golden hour end in the morning?

There’s no single official definition of golden hour. A common one, used here, is the time the sun spends between the horizon and 6° above it, when its light is low, warm and soft. In the morning, golden hour starts at sunrise and ends when the sun reaches 6°: about half an hour after sunrise near the equator, about 40 minutes at mid latitudes such as New York or Madrid, and an hour or more in winter further north.

Why isn’t the earliest sunrise on the longest day?

Because the sun doesn’t keep perfect time. Over the year, solar noon drifts earlier and later against the clock by up to about a quarter of an hour either way, and in June it’s drifting later. That pulls the earliest sunrise a few days before the June solstice: in 2026 it’s on June 18 in London and June 15 in New York. For the same reason the latest sunrise comes after the December solstice, around the turn of the year in London and in early January in Madrid. Where clocks change, the latest sunrise can come in autumn instead: in New York it’s on October 31, the day before the clocks go back.

How is it calculated?

The times come from the solar position equations published by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the same ones Jera uses on the iPhone. Sunrise and sunset allow for the size of the sun’s disc and for the atmosphere bending its light, which together make the sun appear about 0.83° higher than it is. Clock times include daylight saving time, so they match the clocks where the city is.

The results are accurate to about a minute at mid latitudes. They assume a flat horizon at sea level, so hills, mountains or tall buildings to the east make the sun appear later, and standing high up makes it appear earlier. Close to the poles, where the sun skims the horizon, the times are less precise.

Can I use my location?

Yes. “Use my location” asks your browser for your position, rounds it to about a kilometre and works out the times on your device. It isn’t sent to us or stored, and it never goes into the page’s address. If you’d rather not share it, pick the nearest city on the list. A city does go into the address (for example ?city=lisbon), so you can share or bookmark it.

How do I set an alarm for sunrise?

An ordinary alarm rings at the same clock time every day, so it drifts against the sunrise through the year. Jera’s sunrise alarm works the times out every day for your location and can reach full volume at sunrise, start rising at sunrise, or ring at a time you pick between 30 minutes before first light and 30 minutes after golden hour ends. Like every Jera alarm, it starts almost silent and rises over a few minutes. If dark winter mornings are what you’re up against, why it’s harder to wake up on dark winter mornings looks at what research says about light and waking up.

Frequently asked questions

What time is first light today?

Pick your city or use your location at the top of the page. The first card shows first light for today, and you can change the date to see any other day.

How long before sunrise is first light?

About 20 minutes near the equator, where the sun rises steeply, and about half an hour at mid latitudes such as New York, Madrid or Tokyo. Further north or south the sun rises at a shallower angle, so it takes longer, especially around the solstices: in London, from about 35 minutes in spring and autumn to nearly 50 in June. Far enough north in summer, the sun never gets 6° below the horizon, so twilight lasts all night.

What’s the difference between dawn and sunrise?

Dawn is the start of twilight, while the sun is still below the horizon; sunrise is when the sun itself appears. This calculator shows civil dawn, which it calls first light.

Why does sunrise jump by an hour?

That’s the clocks changing for daylight saving time, not the sun. The calculator shows times on local clocks, so the line in the chart breaks on those days.

What happens in places where the sun doesn’t rise?

During polar night, the sun stays below the horizon all day, and the calculator says so instead of giving a sunrise time. During the midnight sun, it says the sun is up all day.

How accurate are the times?

To about a minute in most of the world, for a flat horizon at sea level. Hills to the east delay the sunrise you see, and the times are less precise near the poles.