Daylight is the combination of all direct and indirect sunlight during the daytime. This includes direct sunlight, diffuse sky radiation, and (often) both of these reflected by Earth and terrestrial objects, like landforms and buildings. Sunlight scattered or reflected by astronomical objects is generally not considered daylight. Therefore, daylight excludes moonlight, despite it being reflected indirect sunlight.
Daylight is present at a particular location, to some degree, whenever the Sun is above the local horizon. (This is true for slightly more than 50% of the Earth at any given time. For an explanation of why it is not exactly half, see here). However, the outdoor illuminance can vary from 120,000 lux for direct sunlightatnoon, which may cause eye pain, to less than 5 lux for thick storm clouds with the Sun at the horizon (even <1 lux for the most extreme case), which may make shadows from distant street lights visible. It may be darker under unusual circumstances like a solar eclipse or very high levels of atmospheric particulates, which include smoke (see New England's Dark Day), dust,[1] and volcanic ash.[2]
| Illuminance | Example |
|---|---|
| 120,000 lux | Brightest sunlight |
| 111,000 lux | Bright sunlight |
| 109,880 lux | AM 1.5 global solar spectrum sunlight (= 1,000.4 W/m2)[3][circular reference] |
| 20,000 lux | Shade illuminated by entire clear blue sky, midday |
| 1,000–2,000 lux | Typical overcast day, midday |
| 400 lux | Sunriseorsunset on a clear day (ambient illumination) |
| <200 lux | Extreme of thickest storm clouds, midday |
| 40 lux | Fully overcast, sunset/sunrise |
| <1 lux | Extreme of thickest storm clouds, sunset/rise |
For comparison, nighttime illuminance levels are:
| Illuminance | Example |
|---|---|
| <1 lux | Moonlight,[4] clear night sky |
| 0.25 lux | Afull Moon, clear night sky[5][6] |
| 0.01 lux | Aquarter Moon, clear night sky |
| 0.002 lux | Starlight, clear moonless night sky, including airglow[5] |
| 0.0002 lux | Starlight, clear moonless night sky, excluding airglow[5] |
| 0.00014 lux | Venus at brightest,[5] clear night sky |
| 0.0001 lux | Starlight, overcast moonless night sky[5] |
For a table of approximate daylight intensity in the Solar System, see sunlight.
