# Sunrise or sunset...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-or-sunset/27350
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [July 29, 2000, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-or-sunset/27350 "2000-07-29T18:20:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@sortawicked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sortawicked)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2000, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-or-sunset/27350/1 "2000-07-29T18:20:33Z")
…which do you think is the most amazing?
Last night,I watched the sunset.It was gorgeous! All these vibrant hues.The sun was orange and the sky was streaked with colors.Red,orange,gold,even lavender and green!!!
I decided to get up early and watch the sunrise this morning,to see how the two compared.
The sunrise was beautiful,too.Lots of lavender and pink and gold.It was peaceful and gentle,with a subtlty that the sunset didn’t have.
But the sunset was better.It was demanding to be noticed
and completely breath taking.I wonder if the brilliance
of it has anything to do with the dust and pollutants from cars and such at the end of the day? Maybe the clarity of the atmosphere causes the colors in the sunrise not to be as “magnified”?
So,which do you prefer???
---
### Author:  [@Poirot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poirot)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2000, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-or-sunset/27350/2 "2000-07-29T19:14:24Z")
Sunset is a bust here. Only sunrise is good. I guess it’s the wind over the ocean.
---
### Author:  [@bovary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bovary)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2000, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-or-sunset/27350/3 "2000-07-29T20:13:56Z")
Sunrise by far.
There is nothing better than a good sunrise. It gives one an awesome, majestic, sobering, time to start a new day type of feeling.
Sunsets aren’t bad either, just not as good as sunrises.
---
### Author:  [@tubagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tubagirl)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2000, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-or-sunset/27350/4 "2000-07-29T21:21:50Z")
I actually watched my first sunrise a few months ago. I must say it was VERY difficult getting out of bed that early. (being on a romantic gettaway does that) It was pretty, and I like the shifting rays of light. BUt nothing compared to scenic colors of sunset. As everything ranges from orange to pink to purple… beautiful. AND I don’t have to get up so god awfully early.
---
### Author:  [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2000, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-or-sunset/27350/5 "2000-07-29T23:04:44Z")
The only sunrises that I have seen that compare to sunsets are the ones we get here in Chicagoland. I used to drive to work on lsd and the sunrises over lake Michigan were so stunning it was all i could do to keep my eyes on the road enough to drive safely.
The midwest has the best sunsets. Humidity, dust from agriculture, a moderate but not overwhelming amount of pollutants and the clousd we get here make them breathtaking.
---
### Author:  [@Fanny\_May](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fanny_May)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2000, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-or-sunset/27350/6 "2000-07-30T04:41:39Z")
We once had a house that had a big picture window facing due west, where we overlooked a wide ravine, so there were no obstructions. The sunsets were so good we watched them every night for the first year, and 3 nights a week thereafter. Even the kids would stop everything to watch. I was never so happy.
---
### Author:  [@Quadzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quadzilla)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2000, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-or-sunset/27350/7 "2000-07-30T05:21:01Z")
Minnesota sunsets. Absolutely stunning.
But then, I’ve never gotten up early enough to catch the sunrises…
---
### Author:  [@CanadianSue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanadianSue)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2000, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-or-sunset/27350/8 "2000-07-30T05:28:14Z")
Definitely sunsets. I love being up in the mountains and sitting outside watching the sun go down. Its so incredibly beautiful.
---
### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2000, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-or-sunset/27350/9 "2000-07-30T05:49:21Z")
On my days off, it’s a toss up. It depends a lot on the weather and my mood. But on days I have to work, Sunsets are easily more beautiful than sunrises.
I could be slightly jaded, though. The S.F. Bay Area has especially spectacular sunrises and sunsets.
Best in the world, I’d say. 🆒
Peace,
mangeorge
---
### Author:  [@JosephFinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JosephFinn)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2000, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-or-sunset/27350/10 "2000-07-30T07:14:48Z")
Either wat, swiftly run the days.
---
### Author:  [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2000, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-or-sunset/27350/11 "2000-07-30T10:43:46Z")
Sunsets definately. For one, there’s no clear view of the horizon in the east from my house, and also sunsets have more vivid and varied colors.
Sunrises here have some nice colors, but it’s usually only pinks and yellows. Sunsets here can be very bright pink to red with orange and purple tints, if we have a few clouds out. I remember one was so utterly beautiful it looked as if the sky was on fire. When i was in my 6 pm pre-calc class in the fall a couple of years ago, we’d all stop the lesson to watch the sunset, since the classroom window faced west.
---
### Author:  [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2000, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-or-sunset/27350/12 "2000-07-30T11:09:22Z")
I like sunsets better, especially if I’ve had a crappy day. I frequently take walks at night just to catch the sunsets. There’s nothing like seeing something so pretty to get your mind off what you bothered to get up that morning for. Where I live the sun sets right over a mountain, and sometimes there are pockets in the clouds that let the light shine through in beams, and the sun’s gold, pink, peach, and orange colors are breathtaking.
---
### Author:  [@Myrr21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrr21)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2000, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-or-sunset/27350/13 "2000-07-30T17:59:26Z")
The thing about sunrises is that everytime I see one, it’s because I’ve been up all night fritering my time away. I therefore am never fully awake for the sunrise, and am in fact pissed because the sun has gotten itself up before I’ve gotten myself to sleep. So I kinda have to go with sunset.
---
### Author:  [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2000, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-or-sunset/27350/14 "2000-07-31T04:03:43Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Quadzilla \*
> \*\*Minnesota sunsets. Absolutely stunning.
> \*\*
I’ll second that.
Sitting near a campfire, the sun going down behind the pines on the far shore, nearly still waters reflecting the crimson clouds edged in gold, loons calling goodnight to each other…
_sigh_
_Yeah._
---
### Author:  [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2000, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-or-sunset/27350/15 "2000-07-31T17:22:49Z")
Sunset, to mark the end of daylight and the beginning of night.