Where does the sun rise and set?

Earth’s axis is tilted about 23.4° from the perpendicular to its orbit. As Earth travels around the sun, the sun’s position north or south of the celestial equator changes, and the points where it crosses the horizon move with it. Around the March and September equinoxes the sun is on the celestial equator, which meets the horizon due east and due west, so it rises and sets close to those directions almost everywhere on Earth.

Outside the polar regions, the sun rises north of east from March to September, farthest north near the June solstice, and south of east from September to March, farthest south near the December solstice. North of the equator, the northern swing comes with summer; in Australia, it comes with winter.

The farther a place is from the equator, the farther its sunrise and sunset points travel along the horizon during the year. The table above shows the range in each city. Near the Arctic Circle the swing becomes so wide that, around midsummer, the sun does not set at all, and around midwinter it does not rise.

It always comes up on the eastern side of the horizon and goes down on the western side, except near the poles, where it can stay up or down for weeks. Exactly due east (90°) and due west (270°) happen only around the equinoxes.

Bearings on this site are measured clockwise from true north: 90° is east, 180° south and 270° west. A magnetic compass points to magnetic north, which can differ from true north by several degrees depending on where you are. Hills and buildings can hide the sun when it reaches the horizon; the bearings assume a level horizon.

Every city page shows today’s sunrise and sunset bearings on a compass, and how far they move during the year. Use them to plan a photograph, to see whether the sun will set over the sea or behind a building, or to know which windows get the morning sun.