24-Hour Clock
A 24-hour clock in the colour of today’s real sky, with the whole day on one ring.
24-Hour Clock shows the time in 24-hour format, 14:30 instead of 2:30 PM, under a sky the colour of the real one outside: deep indigo before dawn, rose at sunrise, pale gold in the morning, clear blue at noon, amber late in the afternoon, violet at dusk and then night. A ring holds the whole day and goes round once a day instead of twice, with midnight, 00, at the top, 06 on the right, noon, 12, at the bottom and 18 on the left, and a glowing bead at now, so one glance tells you the hour and how much of your day is behind you and ahead of you. The time is printed in 24-hour figures too, with no AM or PM to second-guess: the 24h format used across much of the world, and the military time of aviation, medicine and the armed forces.
It opens on Sky Dial, a slim ring of today’s sky colours with sunrise and sunset marked on it, the time large in the centre and the part of the day and the daylight left beneath it. Star Dial sets the same ring in a starry sky, with ticks every 15 minutes, tonight shaded from sunset to sunrise, a bead with a comet trail and tonight’s moon at its real phase in the corner. Sky Horizon trades the ring for a horizon: the sun crosses a dotted arc from sunrise to sunset, the moon follows it through the night, and the sky is reflected on the ground below. Switch between the three from Face in the options at the bottom.
Sunrise and sunset come from your time zone, worked out in your browser, so the page never asks where you are and sends nothing anywhere. Fullscreen, in the options, leaves just the sky and the time, and Keep screen on, under Bedside in Settings, keeps a spare screen or a propped-up phone awake. It runs in the browser on a phone, tablet, computer or TV, with no download and no sign-up.
अक्सर पूछे जाने वाले प्रश्न
What is a 24-hour clock?
It counts the hours of the day from 00 to 23 instead of starting again at 12, so 1 PM is 13:00 and 11:45 PM is 23:45. It is also called military time, and it is how most of the world writes the time.
How do I convert 24 hour time to 12-hour time?
From 13:00 to 23:59, take away 12 and add PM: 13:00 is 1 PM, 18:30 is 6:30 PM and 23:59 is 11:59 PM. 12:00 is noon, 12 PM. 00:00 is midnight, 12 AM, and 00:01 to 00:59 are 12:01 to 12:59 AM. From 01:00 to 11:59 the hours are the same, with AM. In military use the colon is often left out and the time is read in hundreds: 1430 is “fourteen thirty” and 0600 is “zero six hundred”.
How do I read a 24-hour dial?
On Sky Dial and Star Dial, 00 is at the top and the glowing bead goes round the ring clockwise once a day, 15 degrees an hour: 06 on the right is six in the morning, 12 at the bottom is noon and 18 on the left is six in the evening. With the bead straight to the right, a quarter of the day has gone; down and a little to the left, it is early afternoon. On Sky Horizon the sun crosses its arc from sunrise to sunset instead. The minutes are in the time printed on each face.
How do the colours follow my sunrise and sunset?
The screen is painted the colour of the sky where you are at this minute: deep indigo before dawn, rose at sunrise, pale gold in the morning, clear blue at noon, amber late in the afternoon, violet at dusk and dark blue through the night. Each colour is pinned to today’s real sunrise, solar noon and sunset rather than to a fixed hour, so the rose comes earlier in summer and later in winter, and the night grows and shrinks round the ring with the seasons. The ring holds the whole of today’s sky at once, and the bead glows in the colour of now. Under the midnight sun or through a polar night, the sky follows those too.
How does it know when the sun rises and sets without my location?
From your time zone. Your browser already knows it, such as Europe/Paris or America/New_York, and the page works out sunrise, sunset and solar noon for the place the zone is named after, with the same maths as NOAA’s solar calculator. It asks for no location, needs no connection and sends nothing anywhere. Far from that city, the times can be some minutes off your own.
What does the moon show?
Tonight’s moon at its real phase. Star Dial shows it in the corner, and prints its phase and the length of the night under the time; on Sky Horizon it crosses the arc through the night in place of the sun.
Can I switch between the three designs?
Yes. Pick Sky Dial, Star Dial or Sky Horizon from Face in the options at the bottom, and the page remembers your choice. All three are always in 24-hour time, so there is no 12h / 24h switch or AM/PM here.
Can it show seconds?
Yes. Turn on Seconds under Settings in the options at the bottom of the clock and all three faces show them; turn it off again for hours and minutes alone.
Can I switch back to 12-hour?
Not on this page: 24-hour time is its whole point, and all three faces are drawn for it. Digital Clock has a 12h / 24h switch, and so do the main clock’s settings, for every face that reads the time both ways.
Can I use it on the main clock?
Yes. “Make this my clock” saves the face you are on as your main clock without leaving this page, and the note that appears links to it. All three are in the main clock’s faces too.