Sun Facts in General The sun rises and sets almost 90 degrees from the horizon at the equator. On equinoxes, the sun rises and sets at roughly 45 degrees to the horizon at 45 degrees latitude. The reason the sun appears to rise at a lower angle near the horizon is because of perspective. Objects that are far away look smaller than those that are close by. So if you were standing on the moon, the first sunrise would be just a tiny bit before the earth's surface appeared to rise out of the lunar surface. At higher latitudes, the sun takes longer to reach its highest point in the sky each day. And at lower latitudes, it reaches its highest point in the sky each day more quickly. The amount of time it takes for the sun to rise at 68 degrees north latitude is about an hour less than at 40 degrees north latitude. At 45 degrees south latitude, the sun rises due west around 10:30 a.m. and sets due west around 6:30 p.m. At 8 degrees north latitude, it takes about an hour longer to rise and set. The apparent rising and setting of the sun is not visible from within a closed room, but only people living at these locations could see this happen.