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The dark days of December are here, if you live in the Northern Hemisphere, but the good news is that beginning tomorrow the days get a little lighter. The closer you live to the Arctic Circle, the more you will appreciate the added sunshine each day.
Darkness is a fascinating app that tells you how many hours of daylight you will experience each day, and how much more or less daylight you have today than yesterday. The app also includes other useful information such as the waxing and waning of the moon, the phase of the moon, when the sun is directly overhead, and other information.
Planning a vacation and want to know how much sunlight you will get at your destination? Check out Darkness. Trying to schedule a wedding and want to know when the sun will set? Check out Darkness. Want to plan a Solstice celebration at Stonehenge? Check out Darkness. Can’t figure out what gift to get for your favorite vampire? Give the gift of Darkness to make sure he knows exactly when the sun will rise each day!
If you’re curious about how much daylight you have today where you live, this app will give you that information plus much more. It’s also interesting to compare other cities to appreciate how much daylight they are enjoying today. You can adjust the date as well to see how much daylight there will be in the future.
Darkness can use your current location or you can set a location to discover the hours of daylight.
If you think your day is dark, consider Oslo, Norway where they are getting only 5 hours and 53 minutes of daylight today. Anchorage, Alaska is even darker with only 5 hours and 27 minutes of daylight today. Fairbanks, Alaska has a measly 3 hours and 41 minutes of daylight, with the sun rising at 10:58 am and setting at 2:39 pm. Or choose a city that’s above the Arctic Circle, such as Murmansk, Russia where the sun doesn’t rise or set at all today.
Head to the Southern Hemisphere if you want a dose of jealousy and discover that Huancayo, Peru has an enviable 12 hours and 49 minutes of daylight today. Melbourne, Australia has a whopping 14 hours and 47 minutes of daylight on today, their Summer Solstice.
When I moved to England from Philadelphia, I was amazed at the extreme difference between the hours of daylight between the summer and the winter at my new home. My mental clock had a difficult time adjusting to the British sky being pitch black in the afternoon during the winter and light enough to read a book outside at 9:30 pm during the summer. (London has 7 hours and 49 minutes of daylight today and 16 hours and 38 minutes of daylight during their Summer Solstice.)
The farthest south I ever lived was Tampa, Florida where the sun will give 10 hours and 22 minutes of light today. Those extra hours of sunlight were greatly appreciated by me (I enjoyed the warm weather as well!).
The app has cool graphics too, with a shadow over the globe showing where it is dark at the set date and time.
Darkness also has plenty of information about phases of the moon. Whether you’re an astronaut, astronomer or werewolf, you may need to know exactly what the moon is doing now or on a certain date. Darkness can tell you all you need to know.
The developer, Bjango, suggests other uses for this versatile app. If you are a photographer and want to plan your photo shoots based upon where the sun will be in the sky, you can calculate this easily with Darkness. The app also functions as a world clock for people trying to plan a global meeting. Or you could calculate what the moon phase was during the Apollo 11 moon landing in July 1969.
Darkness is available in the iTunes App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch for $1.99. Darkness in the iTunes App Store
Do you crave sunlight during the dark days of winter? Do you enjoy knowing how much daylight you can look forward to each day? Do you enjoy learning about the phases of the moon? Let us know in the Comments section below!
*Winter Solstice image by Francis Anderson
** Stonehenge Solstice image by Cheng I
What a cool little app, and it seems to be well designed, too. I especially like the shadow-over-the-world feature.
I wish this were available for PC. I work from home, so my need for data on the move is hardly a very pressing concern.
Hi Bell, You’re right, this app is well done. It’s packed with features and displays the data in a very clear and interesting way. There are some treasures in the app that I want readers to discover too!
I have had this app for a while and it’s amazing how handy this app is. Even when I’m home I tend to grab my iPhone because it’s a quicker way of checking email, movie times, weather and other data.
Knowing where the sun will be in the sky would be useful for photography. I am very technical about it; I look out of the window! The sky is spooky at the moment and I am pleased the days will be longer from now on. I have some interesting effects with the sun low in the sky, especially shining on a frozen lake. I have just changed my cover picture on Facebook for a frozen lake picture. I shall use those cool icy pictures for my blog over Christmas! I have blogs scheduled for Thursday and Friday and so my next one is for Christmas Eve. I could write a Scrooge blog, I did last year! 🙂
Hi Mike, Interesting how you just look out the window to determine the light. I imagine even a photographer who calculates the position of the sun still has to take weather into account.
I look forward to seeing your icy pictures, Mike! 🙂
I especially like this app because I’ve spent time in Alaska. As such, I’m extremely aware of the gain and loss of daylight. On the weather portion of the news, they always told us how many minutes we changed from the previous day.
This time of the year is my least favorite because there’s so much darkness. I am so excited that we’re going to be gaining back daylight this week!
Thanks for the great recommendation, Carolyn!
Hi Amber, Great point, when you live that far north, the daily change in the amount of daylight can be quite significant. It really is a different mindset to have such drastic changes in the amount of daily darkness. Living in England was when I first became aware of this. I can only imagine how much impact the amount of daylight has on daily life in Alaska!
Very interesting that they announce that information on the local news there!
I agree, more sunshine is better for me too. Sometimes it can be hard to rally the energy when there isn’t much sunshine! 🙂
You KNOW what I’m going to start off with don’t you Carolyn? You changed it to blue! I love it and noticed that anyone visiting can also do the same. Now that is one really cool feature of this new theme. How fun is that!
On to the subject at hand.. Another cool app I see. I remember a number of years ago when we went to Alaska, this would really have come in handy. It was so weird being there and it not getting dark. There it was midnight and the sun still hadn’t gone down. That was really strange but kind of cool too.
I bet my sister would get a kick out of this one and possibly my nephew. She travels quite a bit and by the time he gets home at the end of January, he will have traveled all the way around the world this year. Will definitely share this one with the both of them. They are so much more advanced with their phones then me. Shock, shock…
Thanks for this info Carolyn and here is wishing you a Very Merry Christmas and may 2012 be your Best Year Ever! 🙂
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne, Yes, blue is my favorite color too. But I changed the default color to delight your senses. It won’t stay blue forever but you can change it back to blue by pressing the color square above. So fun! \:D/
Your sister and your nephew should really enjoy this app. It’s very cool to see how much daylight everyone is having around the world.
Best wishes for a very Merry Christmas to you and your family, Adrienne! 🙂
Having friends all across the world i am always interested in the weather, what time it is & what’s happening where they are. This great App will help me to know more. Love your site and the variety of info you share.
Jane
Hi Jane, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Yes, it’s fun to find out what is going on in cities around the world. This app does a marvelous job of letting you know just that. The app could have been a boring one, with just charts and graphs. But the developers made it fun and visually pleasing.
Thanks for stopping by, Jane, and leaving your awesome comment! 🙂
My first wife was born on this day (shortest day of the year). I’m not into astrology but have wondered if this was some omen or astrological sign that I should have paid attention to LOL.
Riley
Hi Riley, My niece’s birthday is today and she is beautiful, smart, funny, and a whiz at sports. So it must be a good day to be born!
Thanks for stopping by, Riley. I hope your day is filled with sunshine! 🙂
Carolyn, aloha. What a fun app. As you know, I was recently on the Mainland and did not realize how much earlier it got dark in California as compared to Hawaii. In fact, I asked my mom what time it was, she told me and I told her that her clock must be off because I knew it was later. In checking, she and her clock were right.
This would be a fun app to have on a computer just to see what’s happening. As i type things, if I know a blogger lives in a different part of the world I usually think about what time it is there when I am responding. this app would add even more to it.
Speaking of apps, I see that tings are not looking good for RIM/Blackberry. Definitely not good that they delayed the release of their super whammy phone until 4th quarter.
Until later, aloha. Janet
Hi Janet, You’re right, we get it in our head what time it is based upon the position of the sun. But when that variable changes drastically, it takes time for us to adjust. our thinking. I remember sitting at the kitchen table in December in England at 4:30 at night when it was black as pitch outside and thinking in my head that it was time for bed!
Similarly, it’s difficult to get the kids to be in the summer at 9 pm when it’s daylight outside! 🙂
There were rumors today that RIM has interested buyers in Amazon, Microsoft and Nokia. RIMM’s stock was up almost 10% today. All may not be lost for RIM, but it’s not looking good right now.
Hi Carolyn,
What a cool app!
Why was I not surprised to find Huancyo in your post? “Head to the Southern Hemisphere if you want a dose of jealousy and discover that Huancayo, Peru has an enviable 12 hours and 49 minutes of daylight today.” Perfect fit for a beautiful sunshiny girl!
I got up this morning at 6.30 to celebrate Solstice (with a cup of coffee – what else!) and I look forward to days getting longer now!
Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and a light filled and caring 2012!
With my warmest regards,
Barbara
Hi Barbara, Yes, we must visit Huancayo together sometime. Preferably when there is a lot of sunlight!
I’m glad you celebrated the Solstice in style, Barbara!
Very happy holidays to you and your family too! I hope the new year brings much happiness to you and your loved ones. 🙂
Wow! Love this app! I recently booked a trip to Alaska in the Spring, and was searching online to determine just how much daylight I would have when I was there. I needed to book some outdoor activities and didn’t want to be snowshoeing in the dark! 🙂 This would have made my planning so much easier. I will be sure to download the app so I can use it for my trip planning to northern Michigan this summer.
Hi Carol, Great idea to use this app to plan your travels! I hope that Darkness helps you plan your trip to Michigan. I’m sure you could look up the information online, but it sure is handy to have an app!
Happy travels! 🙂
You are right about the graphics, it looks good. The information it is giving also looks detailed. This app is both entertaining and educational. I admit, I don’t research much on how many hours the sun is present in a certain country. I could eliminate this ignorance using this app. Hope you can visit me at derivatives as well. Thank you for the recommendation.
Hi Steve, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I’m glad you appreciate the quality of this app. Not many people have a working knowledge of the information contained in this app. But now at least people have a handy reference tool!
Hi Carolyn,
Darkness looks like an awesome app. But, I probably shouldn’t download it, it would be too depressing information. I hardly get any sunlight at all during December 🙂
Hi Jens, I can only imagine what it’s like to live in mostly darkness. But the good news is that as of yesterday, the days start getting longer. More sunshine every day, how cool is that?
Very soon you could be bragging that you are getting more sunlight than the rest of us! :-bd
This is a super cool app, Carolyn! Thanks so much for the mention and it was really interesting to put numbers to the differences. I hadn’t thought about the difference much and how it’s dependent on where we are on earth. The number of daylight hours don’t change much in Huancayo, but I like looking forward to having tons of hours of daylight during the summers here in Vancouver. I don’t think I’d prefer one over the other though. =) I love both of styles!
Hi Samantha, I couldn’t resist adding your hometown in Peru to the article (though it may not be your hometown for longer?). I learned I don’t like the drastic changes in sunlight, though I’m very glad I got to experience them when I lived in England!
Happy holidays, Samantha! 🙂