What do sunrise, sunset, civil/nautical/astronomical twilight, golden hour and blue hour mean, and which of these have official definitions?
The U.S. Naval Observatory defines sunrise/sunset as the Sun's centre 90.8333 degrees zenith distance (about 50 arcminutes below the horizon: 16 arcminute radius plus 34 refraction) and civil, nautical and astronomical twilight as the Sun's centre 6, 12 and 18 degrees below the horizon. 'Golden hour', 'blue hour' and 'magic hour' have no official definition: the Photographer's Ephemeris compares five apps with golden hour ranging from -4 to +6, 0 to +6 and 0 to +10 degrees of solar elevation, and the SunCalc library sets its evening 'goldenHour' at 6 degrees elevation. A cinematographer's clarification quoted there describes magic hour as the time after direct sun is gone but the sky is bright, close to civil twilight.
Structured fields
{
"citations": [
{
"url": "https://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/RST_defs",
"note": "USNO 'Rise, Set, and Twilight Definitions' (equals pin); Photographer's Ephemeris article (live 2026-10-22; bytes differ from pin b8483bd2, excerpts present); suncalc 21449f34 index.js times table lines 104-109; suncalc LICENSE (BSD-style; equals pin)"
},
{
"url": "https://photoephemeris.com/en-GB/articles/magical-gold-and-blue-confusion-in-the-twilight-zone/",
"note": "USNO 'Rise, Set, and Twilight Definitions' (equals pin); Photographer's Ephemeris article (live 2026-10-22; bytes differ from pin b8483bd2, excerpts present); suncalc 21449f34 index.js times table lines 104-109; suncalc LICENSE (BSD-style; equals pin)"
},
{
"url": "https://github.com/mourner/suncalc/blob/21449f34820c3c80a27a78cdc940747ff19ca1e3/README.md",
"note": "USNO 'Rise, Set, and Twilight Definitions' (equals pin); Photographer's Ephemeris article (live 2026-10-22; bytes differ from pin b8483bd2, excerpts present); suncalc 21449f34 index.js times table lines 104-109; suncalc LICENSE (BSD-style; equals pin)"
}
]
}Evidence claims
- [sourced_fact] The U.S. Naval Observatory defines sunrise/sunset as the Sun's centre 90.8333 degrees zenith distance (about 50 arcminutes below the horizon: 16 arcminute radius plus 34 refraction) and civil, nautical and astronomical twilight as the Sun's centre 6, 12 and 18 degrees below the horizon. 'Golden hour', 'blue hour' and 'magic hour' have no official definition: the Photographer's Ephemeris compares five apps with golden hour ranging from -4 to +6, 0 to +6 and 0 to +10 degrees of solar elevation, and the SunCalc library sets its evening 'goldenHour' at 6 degrees elevation. A cinematographer's clarification quoted there describes magic hour as the time after direct sun is gone but the sky is bright, close to civil twilight. · locator: USNO 'Rise, Set, and Twilight Definitions' (equals pin); Photographer's Ephemeris article (live 2026-10-22; bytes differ from pin b8483bd2, excerpts present); suncalc 21449f34 index.js times table lines 104-109; suncalc LICENSE (BSD-style; equals pin) source
Rights
| component | license | hosting | redistribution | modification | training | Evidence and notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| documentation | unknown | permitted | permitted | unknown | unknown | Applies to this original summary only, not to the cited sources. |