For the Northern Hemisphere: Your latest sunsets – and latest evening twilights – are happening around now. They always come in late June and early July. Meanwhile, the Northern Hemisphere’s longest day falls on the June 21 solstice.
For 40 degrees north (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; just north of Denver, Colorado; Beijing, China; Turkey; Japan and Spain), the latest sunsets are centered around June 27. The year’s latest sunsets always come after the summer solstice. But the exact date of the latest sunset depends on your latitude. Farther north – at Seattle – the latest sunsets happen on dates centered on June 25.
Even farther south – at Mexico City or Hawaii – the latest sunsets are centered on dates in early July.
For the Southern Hemisphere: Your latest sunrises of the year happen in late June and early July.
For the Northern or Southern Hemispheres: Latest sunsets go hand-in-hand with your latest twilights. The latest twilights of the year for 40 degrees north also happen in late June and early July. More about twilight below.
For several weeks, around the June solstice, the day (as measured by successive returns of the midday sun) is nearly 1/4 minute longer than 24 hours. Hence, the midday sun (solar noon) comes later by the clock in late June than it does on the June solstice. Therefore, the sunrise and sunset times also come later by the clock, as the table below helps to explain.
If the Earth’s axis stood upright as our world circled the sun, and if, in addition, the Earth stayed the same distance from the sun all year long, then clock time and sun time would always agree.
However, the Earth’s axis is tilted 23.44 degrees out of vertical, and our distance from the sun varies by about 3 million miles (5 million km) throughout the year. At and around the equinoxes, solar days are shorter than 24 hours, yet at the solstices, solar days are longer than 24 hours.
That’s why the latest sunsets always come on or near June 27 at mid-northern latitudes every year.
At mid-northern latitudes, the later clock time for solar noon one week after the summer solstice is more substantial than the change in daylight hours. Given that the daylight hours on June 27 are almost the same as they are on the June 20-21 solstice, the later clock time for the June 27 solar noon gives us slightlylater sunrise and sunset times, as well.
A word about twilight
There are three kinds of twilight:
Civil twilight starts at sundown and ends when the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon.
Nautical twilight occurs when the sun is 6 to 12 degrees below the horizon.
Astronomical twilight happens when the sun is 12 to 18 degrees below the horizon.
North of 50 degrees north latitude, there’s no true night in the month of June. In June, that far north, the sun never gets far enough below the horizon for true night to occur. So from 50 degrees north latitude – to the Arctic Circle (66.5 degrees north latitude) – you’ll find midnight twilight at this time of the year.
And, above the Arctic Circle to the North Pole (90 degrees north latitude), this time of the year is the time of the midnight sun.
Read more: What exactly is twilight?
Bottom line: Why don’t the latest sunsets come on the longest day (the solstice)? In a nutshell, it’s a discrepancy between the sun and the clock. Thus, for mid-northern latitudes, the latest sunsets always come in late June.
Bruce McClure served as lead writer for EarthSky's popular Tonight pages from 2004 to 2021, when he opted for a much-deserved retirement. He's a sundial aficionado, whose love for the heavens has taken him to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia and sailing in the North Atlantic, where he earned his celestial navigation certificate through the School of Ocean Sailing and Navigation. He also wrote and hosted public astronomy programs and planetarium programs in and around his home in upstate New York.
By the way, a similar situation occurs at the summer solstice, for the same basic reason, though the effect is not as extreme. Solstice occurs around June 21, but at latitude 40° north the earliest sunrise occurs around June 14 and the latest sunset occurs around June 28.
For most of America, the earliest sunrises of the year occur before the summer solstice, while the latest sunsets don't happen until after the solstice. Date of earliest sunrise and latest sunset in summer. Near the winter solstice, this difference is even more noticeable.
In terms of daylight, this day is 4 hours, 32 minutes longer than the December solstice. In most locations north of the equator, the longest day of the year is around this date. The earliest sunrise is on June 11 or June 12. The latest sunset is on June 28 or June 29.
The longer-than-average solar day around the solstices causes both earliest sunset and latest sunrise to not fall on the solstice. The time from solar noon to sunset doesn't change very much near the winter solstice. Therefore, since solar noon is a little later each day, sunset is also a little later each day.
The country that has the last sunset is American Samoa, a group of islands located in the South Pacific Ocean. Due to its location, American Samoa is the last place on Earth to see the sun set each day.
If the days start getting shorter after the solstice, why does the latest sunset happen almost a week later? We explain. We know the summer solstice marks the longest day of the year, but did you know that the latest sunset of the year doesn't happen on the solstice, but a week later? Look for it on June 27, 2024.
But after that, sunrise times start to get later in the morning again very subtly, by only one minute or so. And sunsets after the solstice slowly become earlier in the evening. As the summer marches on, you'll notice the length of the day starts to decrease more rapidly.
At and around the equinoxes, solar days are shorter than 24 hours, yet at the solstices, solar days are longer than 24 hours. That's why the latest sunsets always come on or near June 27 at mid-northern latitudes every year.
The golden hour occurs just after sunrise and before sunset, when the sun is low on the horizon, creating that signature warm glow. The blue hour arrives shortly before sunrise and after sunset, when the sun's position just below the horizon produces those cooler tones.
“The Earth [also] spins closer to the sun in winter and the sun sets at a sharper angle, making sunset colors last a bit longer than in summer months,” said Noyes. That means a winter sunset lingers on the horizon, giving us more time to enjoy it.
Refraction in the air causes the phenomenon of advanced sunrise and delayed sunset. In this scenario, the Sun appears to rise 2 minutes earlier and set 2 minutes later. The Sun's rays are refracted when they strike the atmosphere. As a result, the Sun appears to be in a position indicating that it has already risen.
The winter solstice occurs in December, and in the Northern Hemisphere the date marks the 24-hour period with the fewest daylight hours of the year. That is why it is known as the shortest day of the year, or the longest night of the year. Learn more about time and astronomy at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.
In Key West, Florida, 5:38 p.m. is the earliest the sun sets, occurring from Nov. 23 to Dec. 5. Areas north of the Arctic Circle – within 23.5 degrees of the North Pole – experience more than two months when the sun never ascends above the horizon.
Norway. Norway, situated in the Arctic Circle, is called the Land of the Midnight Sun, where from May to late July, the sun actually never sets. This means that for around a period of 76 days, the sun never goes down.
That is because Spain (except the Canary Islands) is in the wrong time zone. Madrid is on a similar line of longitude to Swansea in Wales. Its clocks are set to Central European Time, the same as Warsaw or Tirana, some 24 degrees or 2,000kms (1,200 miles) to the east. Spanish time is a historical anomaly.
As some of us already know, Norway is famously called 'the Land of the Midnight Sun. ' This is because, this country, situated in the Arctic circle does not experience sunset from the months of May to the end of July. Estimate says that Norway has 24 hours of daylight for as long as 76 days during this summer time.
The summer solstice occurs in June in the Northern Hemisphere and marks midsummer: the 'longest day' and 'shortest night' of the year. On this day, the number of hours of daylight are at their maximum, while the number of hours of night are at their minimum.
Winter officially starts on December 21st this year, and is considered the day with the shortest amount of sunlight. However, the earliest sunset actually occurs before the solstice.
Fast forward six months, and the amount of daylight received on the day of the summer solstice measured 14 hours, 1 minute and 54 seconds. Going forward from here, the daylight amount will start to decrease all the way up to the next winter solstice, which will occur on December 21, 2023.
The summer solstice marks the official start of astronomical summer and the longest day of the year. It occurs when one of Earth's poles is tilted toward the sun at its most extreme angle, and due to Earth's tilt, this happens twice a year.
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