Sunrise and sunset time today

The day starts at sunrise

In the panchang the weekday (vaar) runs from one sunrise to the next. A time after midnight but before sunrise still belongs to the previous vaar, which is why a birth at 4 am on a Monday is a Sunday night birth in a Kundli’s panchang.

Tithi at sunrise (udaya tithi)

The tithi running at sunrise is taken as the tithi of the whole day for most fasts and festivals, even if it ends an hour later. Some observances look at another part of the day instead: Ekadashi parana after sunrise, Pradosh in the evening after sunset, Sankashti at moonrise. The panchang gives the tithi at sunrise and the time it ends.

Brahma muhurta

The time before dawn kept for prayer, japa and study, taken here as 96 to 48 minutes before sunrise, so it moves with the sunrise of your city. The shubh muhurat today page gives it with Abhijit muhurat and the good choghadiyas.

Rahu kaal, choghadiya and hora

The time from sunrise to sunset is cut into 8 equal parts: one of them, a different one each weekday, is Rahu kaal, commonly avoided for new starts. The same day is cut into 8 choghadiyas and into 12 horas, and the night from sunset to the next sunrise likewise. A longer summer day makes each part longer.

Sandhya at sunrise and sunset

Sunrise and sunset are the traditional times of sandhya vandana and of offering water (arghya) to the Sun. Many families also light the evening lamp at sunset. The moonrise today page does the same work for the Moon, for vrats that end at moonrise.

What the times mean

Sunrise and sunset

The moment the upper edge of the Sun touches a level horizon at sea level. The air bends sunlight near the horizon by about half a degree, so the Sun is seen a couple of minutes before it has geometrically risen and for a couple of minutes after it has set. Printed panchangs, almanacs and weather sites use the same rule.

Day length (dinman)

The time from sunrise to sunset. In India it changes slowly: a minute or so a day around the equinoxes in March and September, and only seconds a day near the solstices in June and December.

Solar noon

The moment the Sun is highest in the sky and due south (for places north of the Tropic of Cancer). It falls halfway between sunrise and sunset, and in most of India it is not at 12:00, because the whole country keeps one clock time.

Civil dawn and civil dusk

The start and end of civil twilight, when the Sun’s centre is 6° below the horizon. Before civil dawn and after civil dusk it is too dark to read outdoors without a light. In India civil twilight lasts about 20 to 25 minutes.

How the times are worked out

Sunrise and sunset are computed for the chosen city with the astronomy-engine library (the upper edge of the Sun on the horizon, with refraction). Solar noon is the moment the Sun crosses the local meridian, and civil dawn and dusk the moments its centre is 6° below the horizon. Times are rounded to the minute.

In Nagpur on Sunday 11 October 2026 this gives civil dawn at 5:45 am, sunrise at 6:08 am, solar noon at 12:00 pm, sunset at 5:53 pm and civil dusk at 6:15 pm: a day of 11 h 45 min. These match the NOAA solar calculator and the US Naval Observatory tables for Nagpur to the minute.

Why the times change through the year. Nagpur is at about 21° N, so in June the Sun rises around 5:33 am and sets around 6:58 pm (a day of 13 h 25 min), and in December it rises around 6:46 am and sets around 5:37 pm (10 h 51 min). The earliest sunrise does not fall on the longest day, nor the latest sunset on the shortest, because solar noon itself drifts by about half an hour through the year.

Why cities differ. The whole of India keeps IST, set for 82.5° E. A city further east sees the Sun rise earlier by about 4 minutes for each degree of longitude, so Kolkata’s sunrise comes about an hour before Ahmedabad’s; latitude adds to the gap in summer and winter.

More daily tools: panchang today, shubh muhurat today, Rahu kaal today, choghadiya today and moonrise today.