Updated November 2026 · 2026 dates
For anyone counting the dark days to the solstice. Pick a city, then tap to reveal.
In most of the Northern Hemisphere the earliest sunset comes one to three weeks before the December solstice, and the latest sunrise comes after it. The solstice is the shortest day, but solar noon drifts later on the clock through December, which pushes both sunrise and sunset later. Sunsets start getting later before the days get longer.
That drift is the equation of time, the gap between sundial time and clock time, caused by Earth's tilt and its elliptical orbit. timeanddate's earliest sunset explainer gives New York as the example: earliest sunset December 7, solstice December 21, latest sunrise January 3 and 4. It also notes that places closer to the equator get their earliest sunset in November.
The shortest day sits between the earliest sunset and the latest sunrise, not on top of either.
Asterfold's Light Path Studio shows the year's key dates as shortcuts, so you can watch this happen for your own place. A short tour:
The Studio draws the sun's real path on a sky dome for any place and date, with shortcuts to the year's key dates. Scrub through the day for the sun's altitude and bearing.
Jump to the year's most southerly sunset and see whether it lands inside the view you saved, with the dates this year when it sets in your frame.
Tonight shows sunset, golden hour and blue hour times, plus Sunset, Stars and Sunrise ratings with plain-English reasons. Early sunsets mean the light window lands before dinner.
Pick a city at the top and tap reveal.
Worked out on this page with a standard solar position formula, for a flat horizon at the city center, using the U.S. Naval Observatory's sunset definition (the sun's center 0.833° below the horizon, allowing for refraction). Run for 2024, the same code matches timeanddate's published New York and Sydney examples to the minute.
| City | Earliest sunset | Solstice sunset | Latest sunrise |
|---|
For Southern Hemisphere cities the dates are around the June solstice. Latest sunrise is searched from November on, after the U.S. and European clock changes.
It has the fewest hours of daylight, yes. But it doesn't have the earliest sunset or the latest sunrise. In New York the earliest sunset is around December 7 and the latest sunrise around January 3.
Right after your earliest sunset. In much of the U.S. that's the first or second week of December, so the evenings are already gaining a little light by the solstice, even as the mornings keep getting darker.
Closer to the equator, daylight length barely changes through the year, so the equation of time dominates. timeanddate notes that places near the equator have their earliest sunset in November.
No. The earliest sunset falls in December, weeks after clocks change in the U.S. and Europe. A clock change can create an artificially late sunrise the day before it, though.
Yes. Free includes the Light Path Studio, aiming and plans for 2 viewpoints, the journal, tonight's ratings and the next 3 evenings. Asterfold Plus is optional and adds unlimited viewpoints, sky alerts and the full 10-day outlook.
Every time here assumes a flat horizon at the city center. Hills, buildings and trees can bring the visible sunset earlier, and Asterfold says the same in its listing: they aren't modelled. Times can differ by a minute from other calculators that use slightly different refraction. Who should pick something else: if you only want tonight's sunset time, your phone's weather app has it. Asterfold is for people who plan where they'll stand.
An illustration, not a real person.
Early December. You leave work at 4:45 and it's already dark. It feels like it will get worse until Christmas.
December 8. You check: the earliest sunset was yesterday. From here, every evening gets a little later, a minute or so at a time.
The solstice. Sunset is already three minutes later than it was two weeks ago. You take a walk at 4:20 and catch the last of the light from the park.
See the sun's real path for your place and date, offline, in Asterfold's free Light Path Studio.