page_title: Polar night
section_title: Types of polar night
hierarchical_section_title: Polar night / Types of polar night
caption_attribution_description: English: Early afternoon during the Polar Night, viewed from the upper reaches of Tromsø centre towards the mainland side.
context_page_description: The polar night occurs in the northernmost and southernmost regions of the Earth, when the night lasts for more than 24 hours. This occurs only inside the polar circles. The opposite phenomenon, the polar day, or midnight sun, occurs when the Sun stays above the horizon for more than 24 hours. "Night" is understood as the center of the Sun being below a free horizon. Since the atmosphere bends the rays of the Sun, the polar day is longer than the polar night, and the area that is affected by polar night is somewhat smaller than the area of midnight sun. The polar circle is located at a latitude between these two areas, at the latitude of approximately 66.5 degrees. In the northernmost city of Sweden, Kiruna, at 67°51'N, the polar night lasts for around 28 twenty-four-hour periods, while the midnight sun lasts around 50 twenty-four-hour periods. While it is day in the Arctic Circle, it is night in the Antarctic Circle, and vice versa.
  Any planet or moon with a sufficient axial tilt that rotates with respect to its star significantly more frequently than it orbits the star will experience the same phenomenon.
context_section_description: As there are various kinds of twilight, there also exist various kinds of polar night. Each kind of polar night is defined as when it's darker than the corresponding kind of twilight. The descriptions below are based on relatively clear skies, so the sky will be darker in the presence of dense clouds.
caption: Early afternoon during the polar night in Tromsø, Norway.
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