Sunrise and sunset in Cape Town
The times are for Cape Town and shown in local time, with daylight saving included.
Sunrise
6:19am
Sunset
6:51pm
- Length of day2 min 6 s longer than yesterday12 h 32 min
- Solar noon12:35pm
- Sun height at noon60.5°
- Position33.92° S, 18.42° E
Dawn and dusk
- Astronomical dawnSun 18 degrees below the horizon. The sky is fully dark.4:54am
- Nautical dawnSun 12 degrees below the horizon. The horizon is still visible at sea.5:24am
- Civil dawnSun 6 degrees below the horizon. Bright enough to read outdoors.5:54am
- Civil duskSun 6 degrees below the horizon. Bright enough to read outdoors.7:16pm
- Nautical duskSun 12 degrees below the horizon. The horizon is still visible at sea.7:46pm
- Astronomical duskSun 18 degrees below the horizon. The sky is fully dark.8:16pm
All times are shown in local time (Africa/Johannesburg), with daylight saving included.
Computed with the NOAA algorithms. Accurate to about a minute, less so very close to the poles.
How it works
Sunrise counts from the moment the upper edge of the sun appears at the horizon, not when its centre crosses. The atmosphere also bends the light, so the sun is visible while it is still geometrically below the horizon. Together these make the day a few minutes longer than pure geometry would give.
That is why the day runs a little over twelve hours at the equinoxes, despite the name suggesting that day and night should be equal.
The sun is highest at solar noon, which rarely falls at twelve o’clock. Two things move it: where in its time zone the place sits, and the equation of time, which comes from the elliptical orbit and the tilted axis. A sundial can be a quarter of an hour out from the clock depending on the season.
Twilight is divided into three stages by how far below the horizon the sun sits. Civil twilight is bright enough to read outdoors, nautical still shows the horizon at sea, and after astronomical twilight the sky is fully dark.
North of the Arctic Circle the sun stops rising and setting for part of the year. Midnight sun or polar night is then shown instead of clock times.
The times use the NOAA algorithms and are accurate to about a minute. Very close to the poles the sun meets the horizon at such a shallow angle that a small difference in altitude makes a large difference in time, and there the times should be read as approximate.