What is golden hour?
GoldenHour is a tool that instantly calculates sunrise and sunset, civil, nautical, and astronomical twilight, golden hour and blue hour, solar noon, and day length — just enter a location (city, latitude/longitude, or your current position) and a date. All calculations run in your browser using standard astronomical formulas, and your location is never sent to a server.
Key features
Sunrise, sunset & day length
Instantly calculates the sunrise and sunset times, day length, and solar noon for the selected location and date.
Golden hour & blue hour
Shows the morning and evening golden hour and blue hour as time ranges — great for planning your photography.
The three twilights
Displays the dawn and dusk times of civil (−6°), nautical (−12°), and astronomical (−18°) twilight in a table.
Three ways to enter a location
Choose whichever is easiest: search for a city, enter latitude and longitude directly, or use your browser's current location.
Date navigation & timeline
Move to the previous or next day, and visualize a day's night, twilight, golden hour, and daylight segments as a single timeline.
In-browser calculation, no server
Computes with standard astronomical formulas in your browser and never sends your location to a server.
How to use
- Tap 'Choose a city' to pick a city, or use 'My location' or enter latitude and longitude directly.
- Select the date you want with the previous/next day buttons or 'Today'.
- Sunrise and sunset, golden hour and blue hour, twilight times, and the timeline are shown automatically.
- Use 'Copy' to save the results, or compare seasonal times on a city's detail page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are the sunrise and sunset times accurate?
They are computed by implementing the NOAA/Meeus astronomical algorithms directly. Outside the polar regions the error is generally within ±1 minute, and actual observed values may vary slightly depending on terrain, elevation, and weather.
How are golden hour and blue hour defined?
Golden hour is calculated as a sun altitude of roughly −4° to +6°, and blue hour as roughly −6° to −4°. The perceived duration may differ a little depending on atmospheric conditions.
Is my location information stored?
All calculations happen inside your browser, and your location is never sent to a server. Your recently selected location is stored only in your browser for convenience.
What does 'the sun does not rise/set' mean?
At very high latitudes, on certain dates the sun may be above the horizon all day (midnight sun) or below it all day (polar night). In that case we indicate a midnight sun or polar night instead of sunrise and sunset.
Do I need to sign up?
No. You can use it right away with no installation or login, and all processing happens inside your browser.