Sun
Where the sun is and when it rises and sets.
Sun tools find where the sun is and when it rises, sets, and passes through civil, nautical, and astronomical twilight, for any place and date, in local time and Zulu. Pilots use them for the four US aviation nights and night passenger currency. Drone operators use them for Part 107 civil twilight, mapping light, and the sun's hotspot in photos. Start with sunrise, sunset, and twilight. One pitfall: aviation rules define night in different ways, so a landing can be logged as night and still not count toward passenger currency.
I want to check my night passenger currency from my logbook
- Night passenger currency
Which of your logged night takeoffs and full-stop landings count toward 14 CFR 61.57(b), whether you are current to carry passengers at night on a date, and the day that currency lapses, per category and class.
I want to know sunrise, sunset, and twilight
- Sunrise, sunset, and twilight
Sunrise, sunset, solar noon, day length, and civil, nautical, and astronomical twilight for a place and local date, in local time and Zulu, with polar states.
I want to know when night starts for aviation rules
- The four aviation nights
All four US aviation night periods for a place and date, each with its regulation: logging night, passenger-currency night, position lights, and Part 107 civil twilight.
I want to find the hours of good light for mapping
- Mapping light window
The part of a day when the sun is above an elevation threshold (default 30°) for aerial mapping, in local time and Zulu, with the day's highest sun.
I want to check whether the sun's hotspot will show in my photos
- Sun hotspot in a camera frame
Whether the hotspot, the bright patch where the camera looks straight away from the sun, falls in a camera's frame for its heading and pitch at a place and time, and how far off it is.
I want to find the sun's azimuth and elevation
- Sun position (azimuth and elevation)
The sun's azimuth, elevation, declination, and hour angle for a place and time by the NREL Solar Position Algorithm, with the NOAA result as a cross-check, shadow length, and incidence on a slope.
Guides that use these tools
- Drone mapping day: From the resolution the client wants to the height, overlap, blur check, image count, and the hours of good light.