One degree from the equator: nine minutes of swing
Singapore sits at 1.35° north, about 150 km from the equator, and that single number decides almost everything about its light. In 2026 the longest day runs 12h 12m (22 June) and the shortest 12h 03m (22 December) — a spread of nine minutes. Sunrise never leaves the 06:46–07:17 band, sunset never leaves 18:50–19:21.
The consequence is counter-intuitive: sunrise time here is set by the equation of time, not by the seasons. Sunrise drifts 31 minutes later between 30 October (06:46) and 11 February (07:17) while day length barely moves.
The formula behind every Singapore sunrise
No figure is stored. Every time is recomputed from the Sun's position at 1.35° N, 103.82° E, using the NOAA solar-position algorithm in four steps.
1. Fractional year. The date becomes an angle: γ = 2π / 365 × (dayOfYear − 1 + 0.5).
2. Equation of time. Apparent minus mean solar time, in minutes: eqTime = 229.18 × (0.000075 + 0.001868 cos γ − 0.032077 sin γ − 0.014615 cos 2γ − 0.040849 sin 2γ).
3. Solar declination. How far the Sun stands above the celestial equator: δ = 0.006918 − 0.399912 cos γ + 0.070257 sin γ − 0.006758 cos 2γ + 0.000907 sin 2γ − 0.002697 cos 3γ + 0.00148 sin 3γ.
4. Hour angle. The angle from local noon at which the Sun crosses the horizon, solved at the standard zenith of 90.833° — the upper limb of the disc, refraction included.
Solar noon then lands at 720 − 4 × longitude − eqTime + timezone × 60 minutes, and sunrise or sunset sits four minutes of clock time per degree of hour angle either side of it.
Why solar noon reads 13:06, not 12:00
Singapore keeps UTC+8, whose standard meridian is 120° E; the city is at 103.82° E, 16.18° west of it, so the Sun crosses the meridian about 65 minutes after the clock announces noon. Solar noon runs from 12:48 (1 November) to 13:19 (13 February).
There is no daylight saving adjustment: Singapore has kept UTC+8 without a seasonal change since 1982, so every time printed here is SGT and matches the wall clock all year.
Daylight through the year at 1.35° N
Eight dates across 2026, straight from the calculator. Read it as a flat line, not a curve.
| Date (2026) | Sunrise (SGT) | Sunset (SGT) | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-01-15 | 07:12 | 19:15 | 12h 03m |
| 2026-03-20 | 07:09 | 19:16 | 12h 07m |
| 2026-05-01 | 06:57 | 19:07 | 12h 10m |
| 2026-06-21 | 07:00 | 19:12 | 12h 12m |
| 2026-08-01 | 07:06 | 19:16 | 12h 11m |
| 2026-09-22 | 06:54 | 19:01 | 12h 07m |
| 2026-11-01 | 06:46 | 18:50 | 12h 04m |
| 2026-12-21 | 07:01 | 19:04 | 12h 03m |
Two details stand out. The earliest sunrise (30 October, 06:46) and earliest sunset (3 November, 18:50) both land in early November, when the Sun is already heading south — the equation of time is moving faster than declination. And evening light returns in January, morning light not until February.
Three worked examples
Each is the calculator's own output for that date; no conversion is needed, since SGT is the wall clock.
Example 1 — 21 June 2026, the June solstice
- Solar noon: 13:06
- Sunrise: 07:00 · Sunset: 19:12
- Length of day: 12h 12m
- Golden hour: 06:46–07:30 and 18:42–19:26, 44 minutes each
- Blue hour closes at 19:35
Example 2 — 21 December 2026, the December solstice
- Solar noon: 13:03
- Sunrise: 07:01 · Sunset: 19:04
- Length of day: 12h 03m
- Golden hour: 06:48–07:31 and 18:34–19:18, 44 minutes each
- Blue hour closes at 19:27
Example 3 — 20 March 2026, the March equinox
- Solar noon: 13:13
- Sunrise: 07:09 · Sunset: 19:16
- Length of day: 12h 07m
- Golden hour: 06:57–07:37 and 18:49–19:29, 40 minutes each
Golden and blue hour, the equatorial way
The calculator defines the golden hour as the window in which the Sun stands between −4° and +6°, and the blue hour as the stretch from −6° to −4°.
The Sun rises almost vertically here, so it crosses those six degrees quickly: the golden window lasts 44 minutes at either solstice and 40 minutes at the equinoxes, while blue hour is 8 to 9 minutes — roughly half of London's 83-minute summer window.
What actually blocks the light
Astronomy is the easy part; the sky is not. Equatorial convection builds cumulus through the morning, so the 06:46 sunrise is often a brightening behind cloud rather than a visible disc. The northeast monsoon (roughly November to March) brings long, low cloud sheets and the highest odds of an overcast dawn; the southwest monsoon (roughly June to September) brings shorter storms that clear by mid-morning.
Where the numbers can surprise you
- Late October holds the earliest sunrise. 06:46 on 30 October beats anything June offers by 14 minutes.
- Refraction is already inside. The 90.833° zenith means first appearance of the upper limb, which is why equinox days run past twelve hours.
- Solar noon is never at 12:00 — it sits between 12:48 and 13:19.
Sources and standards
Where these figures come from
Every formula on this page is implemented from the published reference material below, and each worked example is reproduced by the script that built the page. Where a value depends on a local rule — the daylight-saving dates, for instance — the page states the rule rather than assuming one.
- NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory — Solar Calculator — the solar-position algorithm underlying sunrise, sunset, solar noon and the equation of time.
- NIST Time and Frequency Division — the definition of Coordinated Universal Time and the standard offset used here.
- NASA Science — Sun — solar geometry and the twilight definitions behind the golden and blue hours.
Figures, formulas and reference tables last verified: 20 October 2026.