Twilight
illumination of the Earth's lower atmosphere when the Sun itself is not directly visible because it is below the horizon
Twilight means either dawn (in the morning) or dusk (in the evening).
In the morning, dawn is when it is not dark any more, and the light of the sun is just starting to appear, before sunrise. In the evening, it is the other way around and that phenomenon is called dusk. At sunset, the sun disappears, and darkness is settling in. Light fades away.
The following have been defined:
- Civil twilight is when the sun is less than 6° below the horizon. It ends at sunrise in the morning or follows sunset in the evening.
- Nautical twilight is when the sun is between 6° and 12° below the horizon.
- Astronomical twilight is when the sun is between 12° and 18° below the horizon.
For all these definitions, the horizon is at sea level.
Other websites
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Twilight.
- Definition of Twilight Archived 2011-06-06 at the Wayback Machine, US Naval Observatory
- Twilight time calculator Archived 2006-12-05 at the Wayback Machine
- Formulae to calculate twilight duration Archived 2008-09-15 at the Wayback Machine, by Herbert Glarner
