Sky Tonight - stargazing app for advanced observations.But how to figure out the astronomical twilight time? Use an app or a website. The twilight duration differs in different locations, so there is no universal time for it. If the Milky Way is visible in your sites (check with Ephemeris for its visibility time), try to capture this breathtaking galaxy as well. This is the perfect time for photographing and observing celestial objects. However, galaxies, nebulae, and globular clusters require full darkness when the Sun is more than 18° under the horizon. The Milky Way starts to appear, and the faintest stars and planets can be observed with the naked eye unless the Moon illuminates the sky. When the darkness is almost complete, and the horizon isn’t discernible, it means that the astronomical twilight is here. You can create a beautiful silhouette against the background of the Moon. But if we mean astrophotography, consider capturing the Full Moon at the horizon. During nautical twilight, many of the stars are visible, making it possible to navigate according to the position of the stars.Īrtificial lights fully illuminate cities during this interval, so it’s good for urban photography. The term itself came from the times when sailors used the stars to navigate at sea. The nautical twilight is the second phase when the horizon becomes challenging to distinguish. Try to catch the beginning of civil twilight in the evening and take some landscape pictures to reveal different shades of the skies. Right after sunset, the sky is very bright and full of rapid colors. Laws in many countries require turning on street lights and car headlights during this phase. The horizon should be well seen during this time, and only the brightest stars and planets are visible. It starts right before sunrise or after sunset when the Sun is just below the horizon. The civil twilight is the brightest phase most people refer to this type when talking about twilight. The time between astronomical twilight, when the Sun is 18° or further down below the horizon, is called the night. They follow each other and occur in the same order all over the Earth the twilight types vary depending on the Sun’s center position below the horizon:

There are three types of twilight - civil, nautical, and astronomical. We can see twilight because the Earth has an atmosphere where the light partially scatters and illuminates our planet even when the Sun is gone. Twilight is a time of the day when the Sun is below the horizon and not visible directly but partially illuminates the sky. When is twilight? What types of twilight are there? What are “magic hours”? Check out our infographic to get answers to these questions.

Dawn dusk and twilight