# sunrise vs. sunset: do they look different? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 2, 2011, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-vs-sunset-do-they-look-different/573208 "2011-03-02T12:56:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-vs-sunset-do-they-look-different/573208/21 "2011-03-02T22:12:53Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I lived on the Atlantic coast of Florida on the beach for 4 years and was up at the crack of dawn almost every day for my job. Sunrises were anything but picturesque. So must moisture and fog over the ocean that you never actually saw the sun come up. It just got lighter out and eventually the fog would burn off and by that time the sun was up in the sky. > In contrast the sunsets I’ve seen off the west coast of Florida on a clear day are awesome. The distinct circle of the sun being intersected by the sharp line of the horizon is something you never see on the east coast. Never say never. I have a view over the Atlantic Ocean, and I’ve got crystal clear sunrises day after day. Cape May County, NJ Being on a cape means sunsets over the Delaware Bay. Sunsets are better, though. Also, see my comments up-thread about fall sunsets. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-vs-sunset-do-they-look-different/573208/22 "2011-03-02T22:21:04Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I lived on the Atlantic coast of Florida on the beach for 4 years and was up at the crack of dawn almost every day for my job. Sunrises were anything but picturesque. So must moisture and fog over the ocean that you never actually saw the sun come up. It just got lighter out and eventually the fog would burn off and by that time the sun was up in the sky. > In contrast the sunsets I’ve seen off the west coast of Florida on a clear day are awesome. The distinct circle of the sun being intersected by the sharp line of the horizon is something you never see on the east coast. I live on the east coast (SC) and have seen beautiful sunrises. With an unimpeded view of the sunrise, and if there are some thin clouds on the horizon, the sun rises as a brilliant orange-red ball. Moments before the actual rise, if there are scattered thin clouds near the horizon, those clouds will reflect the sunshine in nice orange-tinted colors. In addition, the sun rises here over the horizon at the sea-sky interface; the rays of the sun will be reflected in the sea waters to make a scenic view. The beauty of the sunrise, however, is quite brief. Once completely over the horizon, it loses its beautiful colors quickly. A sunset, however, lasts much longer if you have an unimpeded view of the other horizon, such as on a rooftop. The sun will slowly sink into the horizon, but it sinks much slower than it rises. I don’t know the reason for that, but that is how it appears. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-vs-sunset-do-they-look-different/573208/23 "2011-03-03T00:07:59Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Unless they wanted to show them watching the sun at the moment it came up, this story sounds apocryphal. A couple on a beach with the sun partway up – you can shoot that _forward_, and unless your shot lasts a few minutes constantly looking at the sun, most people won’t know if it’s sunrise or sunset. According to whatever it was that I read, they actually filmed a sunset in progress and then ran the film backward. Don’t know if that’s relevant and I suspect the story is still false. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-vs-sunset-do-they-look-different/573208/24 "2011-03-03T04:21:56Z")
> [@](#): > > The sun will slowly sink into the horizon, but it sinks much slower than it rises. I don’t know the reason for that, but that is how it appears. This doesn’t actually happen. If it appears to happen, the reason is purely psychological. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-vs-sunset-do-they-look-different/573208/25 "2011-03-03T04:24:29Z")
> [@](#): > > According to whatever it was that I read, they actually filmed a sunset in progress and then ran the film backward. Don’t know if that’s relevant and I suspect the story is still false. I understand that. My point is that, unless you catch it just as the sun is breaking over the horizon, r you’re watching it for a LONG time, you can;t tell whether the sun is going up or down. There’s no _need_ to run it backwards (and risk people noticing that your waves are “uncrashing”). So I doubt the story. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-vs-sunset-do-they-look-different/573208/26 "2011-03-03T04:59:44Z")
Eh, it only takes two minutes for the Sun to move its own diameter in the sky. That’s plenty fast enough for it to be noticed over the course of a scene, especially if it’s near the horizon. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-vs-sunset-do-they-look-different/573208/27 "2011-03-03T09:59:25Z")
I would imagine you could just juxtapose a few shots of each and ask people to ID which is which. Personally, I doubt I could look at a photo and have much more than a wild guess. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-vs-sunset-do-they-look-different/573208/28 "2011-03-03T11:04:08Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > This doesn’t actually happen. If it appears to happen, the reason is purely psychological. I think it does happen, and I think the reason is this: Soon after the sun has fully risen, it becomes bright, too bright to look at. However, before the sun has set, it becomes a beautiful orange color, and this sunset lasts longer than the opposite sunrise. (You can look at the sun as it is setting for a longer time than you can look at it after it has risen.) ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-vs-sunset-do-they-look-different/573208/29 "2011-03-03T11:32:46Z")
To be more specific about the dust suggestion: in a city, by the end of a day full of cars and factories and so on, there’ll be tons of pollutants in the air. At dawn, not so much. In the countryside, similarly, I imagine pollen and the like would make a difference. In populated areas, also, the sun often rises before a lot of people have turned their lights on and flooded the skies with light pollution, but by sunset everyone’s awake and switching their lights on the second it’s a bit dim. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-vs-sunset-do-they-look-different/573208/30 "2011-03-03T11:46:39Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > To be more specific about the dust suggestion: in a city, by the end of a day full of cars and factories and so on, there’ll be tons of pollutants in the air. At dawn, not so much. In the countryside, similarly, I imagine pollen and the like would make a difference. > > In populated areas, also, the sun often rises before a lot of people have turned their lights on and flooded the skies with light pollution, but by sunset everyone’s awake and switching their lights on the second it’s a bit dim. I think your first paragraph is the correct explanation. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-vs-sunset-do-they-look-different/573208/31 "2011-03-03T12:37:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Eh, it only takes two minutes for the Sun to move its own diameter in the sky. That’s plenty fast enough for it to be noticed over the course of a scene, especially if it’s near the horizon. Take a look at the length of your average movie scene cut. It’s measured in seconds. Unless the scene were dwelling on the people for a good fraction of those two minutes – and that’s an unusually long scene – there’s no way you’d notice the sun going up or down. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-vs-sunset-do-they-look-different/573208/32 "2011-03-03T12:38:57Z")
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**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-vs-sunset-do-they-look-different/573208/33 "2011-03-03T16:16:57Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Take a look at the length of your average movie scene cut. It’s measured in seconds. Unless the scene were dwelling on the people for a good fraction of those two minutes – and that’s an unusually long scene – there’s no way you’d notice the sun going up or down. I’ve never been involved in shooting a major (or minor) motion picture, but I suspect that for continuity (and other technical reasons), filmmakers rarely shoot scenes with actors in front of a low-lying sun (rising or setting). After editing together takes filmed just a few minutes apart, the sun might jump up and down relative to the horizon in a way that was quite obvious and distracting. Easier to shoot a wide shot with the rising or setting sun and intercut it with close-ups of the actors speaking. (Or these days they just fix it in post.) Just my WAG. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-vs-sunset-do-they-look-different/573208/34 "2011-03-03T17:12:27Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve never been involved in shooting a major (or minor) motion picture, but I suspect that for continuity (and other technical reasons), filmmakers rarely shoot scenes with actors in front of a low-lying sun (rising or setting). After editing together takes filmed just a few minutes apart, the sun might jump up and down relative to the horizon in a way that was quite obvious and distracting. Easier to shoot a wide shot with the rising or setting sun and intercut it with close-ups of the actors speaking. I agree entirely, which makes the probability of this story even lower. My point is that the idea of shooting a scene at sunset and running it backwards for sunrise and having the giveaway be the backwards-crashing waves is inherently absurd. You’d have to have the camera looking at the sun for a period of time much too long for a modern shot in order to even see that the sun is moving the wrong way for you to even consider having to run the shot backwards. In order to believe this story to be true, you’d have to imagine that they’d be setting up an unlikely long scene looking at the horizon for quite a long shot that would be used without a break and then, only after you’d gone to all that trouble, realizing that you either had the wrong time of day, or that your plan to reverse the film wouldn’t work because everything is running backwards. Ge – it’d be too bad if you framed the shot so you couldn’t see the waves, and had your brilliant plan ruinerd by a bird flying backwards through the shot. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-vs-sunset-do-they-look-different/573208/35 "2011-03-03T17:26:33Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I agree entirely, which makes the probability of this story even lower. . There is a flip side to this. If you DON’T really understand the math/physics/timing of sunrises and sunsets the default position of somebody who has thought about this a little but not quite enough WOULD be “hey, if you film a sunrise and you want it to look like a sunset, you gotta run the film backwards”, which IS true. You actually have to do some math, know some numbers, and/or look carefully at the film to realize it aint neccessary. If somebody doesnt do that, well, I think it could certainly happen. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-vs-sunset-do-they-look-different/573208/36 "2011-03-03T17:38:30Z")
Typical movie scenes might be shorter than two minutes, but then, typical scenes don’t have sunrises/sunsets in them, either. You’re not going to frame an action sequence against a sun on the horizon unless the plot gives some good reason for it. Scenes with sunrises/sets would more often be slow, drawn-out romantic scenes. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-vs-sunset-do-they-look-different/573208/37 "2011-03-03T17:53:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Typical movie scenes might be shorter than two minutes, but then, typical scenes don’t have sunrises/sunsets in them, either. You’re not going to frame an action sequence against a sun on the horizon unless the plot gives some good reason for it. Scenes with sunrises/sets would more often be slow, drawn-out romantic scenes. And since it’s the background, you can probably still get away with simply filming it forwards. If the audience is watching the sun move instead of watching the characters, you’ve just created a seriously boring romantic scene, and have more problems than what the sun is doing. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-vs-sunset-do-they-look-different/573208/38 "2011-03-03T19:11:06Z")
I suspect that there might be a difference in sunrise and sunset from a static position that views both from the same spot - the idea that there’s more pollution in the air after a full day of travel and heat and industrial output makes some sense - but wouldn’t a sunrise seen from opposite sides of the globe be identical? What I mean is that every sunrise is a sunset from the opposite horizon, right? So, they should be identical. If given a series of photos from around the world and told to seperate them into sunrises and sunsets, I don’t think (unless you knew the geography) you would be able to look for clues to determine one or the other. Also, I imagine weather would cancel out any unique sunrise/sunset effects. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sunrise-vs-sunset-do-they-look-different/573208.md?page=1)