Sun, Shadows & Daylight Explorer
See how shadows change through the day. Move the time slider and watch the sun travel across the sky while shadows grow and shrink. Compare daylight hours across seasons and locations.
Try a preset
Shadow Challenge
At what time of day is your shadow the shortest?
Reference Guide
How Shadows Form
Light travels in straight lines from the sun. When an object blocks the light, a dark area called a shadow appears on the opposite side. Shadows always point away from the light source.
In the morning the sun is in the east, so shadows point west. In the afternoon the sun moves to the west, so shadows point east.
Sun Angle and Shadow Length
When the sun is high in the sky (like at noon), it shines almost straight down. This makes short shadows. When the sun is low (morning or evening), it shines at a steep angle and makes long shadows.
The higher the sun, the shorter the shadow. The lower the sun, the longer the shadow. At noon, shadows are the shortest they will be all day.
The Sun's Path
The sun appears to move across the sky from east to west during the day. It rises in the east, climbs to its highest point around noon, then sinks toward the west by sunset.
The sun does not actually move around us. Earth spins on its axis, which makes the sun appear to travel across the sky.
Daylight Through the Year
Summer has longer days because Earth is tilted on its axis. In summer, your part of Earth tilts toward the sun, so the sun stays up longer and days have more daylight hours.
Near the equator, days are about 12 hours long all year. Farther from the equator (like the US or Europe), summer days can be 15 hours and winter days only 9 hours.
