Sunrise and Sunset timings for a particular day are determined by both astronomical and astrological calculations. According to the Vedic Astrology, the Sun is regarded as the ‘King’ of all planets and hope of life on the Earth. Its position says a lot about all types of auspicious and inauspicious activities so that we can pick the timings accordingly to do our work.

As the Earth revolves around the Sun, the time of sunrise and sunset vary from place to place. As per astronomy, the sunrise timing for a particular place is determined by the first appearance of the upper disc edge of the Sun, which can be seen above the eastern horizon. On the other hand, the Sunset timing is considered as the disappearance of the upper disc edge of the sun from the western horizon.

The astronomical concept of the sunrise and sunset is, however, not considered for any religious or astrology tasks. It is because as per astronomical calculation, the sunrise is considered when not the edge, but the middle of the sun’s disc is visible above the eastern horizon. This is known as ‘Madhyalimb Darshan’ and all auspicious activities are calculated accordingly.

The Hindu sunrise timing ignores the concept of refraction. This is because refraction causes the sun rays to bend down to the atmosphere of the Earth, making it visible around three minutes early, even when the sun is below the eastern horizon. Thus, the calculation of sunrise, as per the Vedic astrology is done by aligning the centre of the Earth and the Sun to the eastern horizon.