Where the sun rises and sets

The exact compass direction of sunrise and sunset at your location on any date, and how it moves through the year. Free sun direction calculator.

Open the sun position planner

Not due east and west

The sun rises exactly east and sets exactly west only around the March and September equinoxes. In northern summer it rises north of east and sets north of west; in winter it rises south of east and sets south of west. The further you are from the equator, the larger this swing.

Reading the direction

The calculator gives the direction as degrees clockwise from true north (90° is east, 270° is west) and as a compass point. A phone compass app usually shows magnetic north; switch it to true north or allow for the local magnetic declination.

Why it matters

Sunset direction decides whether a window, a balcony, a solar panel or a photo location gets the evening sun, and whether a landmark will line up with the setting sun on a given day.

How far the sunset moves in a year

Sunrise and sunset directions in degrees from true north (90° east, 270° west) at the two solstices of 2026, and how far the sunset point travels along the horizon between them. It moves 46° in Singapore, near the equator, and 132° in Reykjavik, just below the Arctic Circle. At both equinoxes every city in the table sees the sun set within 2° of due west.

Related

• Moonrise and moon phase — the moon's rise and set times and direction for the same place.
• Planets tonight — what is visible after the blue hour ends.
• When the clocks change — on the day of a daylight saving change every sunrise and sunset time on the clock moves by an hour, although the sun does not.

Times are calculated with the NOAA solar position equations; sunrise and sunset use the standard −0.833° horizon. Golden hour (6° to −4°) and blue hour (−4° to −6°) are photographers' conventions, not official definitions.