Is it possible to distinguish sunrise from sunset from an image?

Even with no knowledge of the direction in the sky or time of day, and in a time frame with no discernible solar motion, our readers suggest ways to tell a sunrise from a sunset

15 March 2023

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Is it possible to distinguish sunrise from sunset from an image (i.e. with no knowledge of the direction in the sky or time of day, and in a time frame with no discernible solar motion)?

Keith Macpherson
Clevedon, Somerset, UK

I sympathise with the questioner. I was an airline pilot for 30 years and always observed that, seen from above, the divide in the atmosphere between day and night – known as the terminator –was more distinct at sunset than at sunrise. Why that should be, I don’t know, unless it was purely in my mind.

Spencer Weart
Hastings-on-Hudson, New York,…