It gets dark later from tomorrow The earliest sunset of the year in Bern was so beautiful
From tomorrow, the sun will set later again: The earliest sunset of the year took place on Thursday.
11.12.2025, 16:36
11.12.2025, 22:00
SDA
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- The earliest sunset of the year will take place in Switzerland on Thursday.
- From December 13, the sunsets will be a little later every day, although the winter solstice is not until December 21.
- This is due to the elliptical orbit of the earth and its tilted axis, which causes the sun's highest points to vary in time.
In Chur, the sun sinks below the horizon at 4.33 p.m., in Zurich, which is further west, at 4.35 p.m. In Basel, the sun sets at 4.38 p.m. and in Bern, the sun sets at 4.42 p.m. The last rays of sunshine in Switzerland are at 16.49 in Geneva. From tomorrow Friday, sunset will begin a little later each day.
This is despite the fact that the winter solstice - and therefore the shortest day of the year - does not take place until December 21. However, it will be some time before the sunset is really noticeably delayed.
The reason for this apparent confusion is that the Earth's orbit is elliptical rather than round. Because of this egg-shaped orbit, the speed of the earth around the sun is not uniform. This, together with the slightly oblique axis of rotation of the earth, means that the so-called noon position of the sun does not always occur at the same time. The sun is therefore not at its highest point at noon.
