Sunset Time, Golden Hour and Blue Hour

Sunset is one event. Golden hour and blue hour describe longer intervals around it. None of these times alone tells you how colourful the sky will be.

Golden hour is not always sixty minutes

Skying defines evening golden hour as the sun moving from 6° above the horizon to 4° below it. Its duration changes with latitude and season. Each forecast calculates those crossings for the selected coordinates and displays them in local time.

Blue hour follows

Our blue-hour interval uses solar altitude from −4° to −6°. Cloud cover, terrain and artificial light affect what the scene looks like. At high latitudes, the sun may not cross both limits: the page will say “No complete interval” rather than show a made-up time.

A practical plan

Use the calculated window to decide when to arrive, then use the quality score and cloud forecast to decide how promising the evening looks. Check the local date and timezone before making plans across time zones.

Times are estimates for an ideal horizon. The NOAA solar-calculation notes explain why atmospheric conditions can affect observed solar events. Skying uses SunCalc for its light intervals.