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Light calendar: golden hour, blue hour and darkness for your dates

By Gallivanting GadaboutResearched, not travelledCalculated in your browser, NOAA method
TL;DR

Pick one of our 74 weather stations in Europe and Japan and up to 31 days, and this calendar works out sunrise and sunset direction, morning and evening golden light, blue hour and the start of full darkness for each day, with NOAA's solar equations. You can save the windows to your own calendar.

Light for your dates

How it works

Your browser calculates the sun's height and direction every 30 seconds for each day at the chosen weather station, with the NOAA Solar Calculator equations.1 Sunrise and sunset are when the centre of the sun is 0.833° below the horizon; full darkness starts when it is 18° below.12 Golden light and blue hour use one stated band: the sun from 6° above to 4° below the horizon, then 4° to 6° below.3 We checked the same equations against the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan's tables.4

Times appear in your device's own time zone, or in UTC. We do not convert them to the local time at the station, because that depends on each country's clock rules. The calendar file stores UTC, which calendar apps convert for you. Nothing you choose here is sent anywhere: the calculation happens on your device.

What this calendar cannot tell you

  • The weather. Cloud decides whether there is any golden light at all.
  • Hills and buildings. Times are for a flat horizon at the weather station.
  • Somewhere else. It covers our 74 weather stations only; a place a few kilometres away is close, one far away is not.

Key takeaways

  • Golden light and blue hour change every day; this calendar gives them for any dates at our 74 stations.
  • Times are shown in UTC or your own time zone, and the .ics file keeps them correct in any calendar app.
  • What we would skip: trusting the times near hills or tall buildings without allowing a margin.

Sources

The calculation uses NOAA's published equations, checked against Japan's national observatory; the band is the PhotoPills authors'; twilight definitions are the US Naval Observatory's. See how we research.

  1. Method: NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, Solar Calculation Details (the NOAA Solar Calculator equations, based on Jean Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms), Read it. Checked 24 September 2026. NOAA notes that the calculator is no longer actively maintained and that calculated times can differ from what is observed. We used the same equations for the daylight figures on our country and prefecture pages. Our calculations; NOAA does not endorse this site.
  2. Twilight definitions: US Naval Observatory, Astronomical Applications Department, Rise, Set, and Twilight Definitions. Read it. Checked 24 September 2026.
  3. Golden and blue hour band: Germán Marquès and Antoni Cladera, Understanding Golden Hour, Blue Hour and Twilights, PetaPixel, 11 June 2014. Read it. Checked 24 September 2026.
  4. Independent check: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, 暦計算室, 日の出入り tables for Tokyo, Sapporo and Naha, 2026 (国立天文台ホームページより). Our calculation at NAOJ's coordinates matched its day length to 2 minutes and its sunrise and sunset directions to half a degree on the 15th of March, June, September and December. Checked 24 September 2026.
  5. Station positions: the weather stations our country and prefecture pages use: WMO 1991–2020 climate normals station list (NOAA NCEI) for Europe, and the Japan Meteorological Agency's station list for Japan.

Our calculation. Times to the minute; directions to the nearest degree.