Golden Hour Times Calculator

Sunset time varies daily based on your geographic latitude, longitude, and the date. Photographers use it to plan golden hour, the stretch before sunset when light is warm, soft, and directional. It runs about 25 minutes near the equator and well over an hour in the far north.

The Formula (simplified):

Sunset hour angle (H) = arccos(−tan(latitude) × tan(declination))

Solar declination (δ) = 23.45° × sin(360° × (284 + day_of_year) / 365)

Sunset time (UTC) = 12 + H / 15 − equation_of_time_correction − longitude / 15

Key Variables:

• Latitude: Higher latitudes = extreme variation between summer and winter
• Longitude: Each degree east or west shifts local solar time by 4 minutes
• Day of year: Drives the declination calculation

Practical Reference, real local sunset times (2026, to the nearest minute):

Golden Hour Duration:

• Tropics (0–15°N/S): golden hour lasts only 24 to 27 minutes, because the sun sets almost vertically
• Mid-latitudes (30–50°): about half an hour at the equinoxes, and about 50 minutes in December at 50°
• At 60°: over an hour in June and close to two in December, when the sun barely clears 6° all day

What this calculator gives you, and what it does not

It returns solar time: the clock as the sun sees it, where noon is the moment the sun is highest. That is not what your watch says. To get local clock time you need three more corrections that a latitude alone cannot supply:

1. Longitude within your time zone. Each degree east of your zone’s meridian moves solar noon 4 minutes earlier.
2. The equation of time, worth up to ±16 minutes depending on the date.
3. Daylight saving, worth a whole hour for much of the year in most of the northern hemisphere.

Together those can move the answer by well over an hour, which is why the table above of real clock times cannot be reproduced from latitude alone. Use this for the shape of the day, how long your golden hour is and how the windows sit relative to sunset, and a sun-position app for the minute you need to be standing there.

Worked Example:

Latitude 40.7°N (New York). Date: March 20, the equinox. The simple formula gives a declination of −0.9°, where the true figure that day is 0.0°.

Sunset hour angle = arccos(−tan(40.7°) × tan(−0.9°)) = 89.2°

Sunset in solar time = 12:00 + 89.2 ÷ 15 = 5:57 PM solar. New York’s actual sunset that evening is about 7:08 PM EDT.
Daylight saving adds 60 minutes of that gap. New York sits 1° east of its time zone’s meridian, which takes 4 off, and the equation of time adds about 7 in late March.
The last 7 come from this page’s own simplifications. Its declination formula is 0.9° off at the equinox, worth 3 minutes, and published sunsets count the moment the top of the sun disappears, with the air bending its light over the horizon, which adds about 4 more.

Photographer Tips:

• Blue hour (15–30 min after sunset) is equally valuable for cityscapes
• Scout locations in advance and arrive 30 minutes early
• West-facing subjects catch the most sunset light; east-facing subjects get beautiful reflected warm fill