Sun

Daytime


The sun and moon rise in the east and set in the west.

When the player creates a new world, the time is set to dawn and the sun starts on the horizon. As time passes, it slowly moves across the sky. As the sun sets, the moon rises. Overall, daytime lasts 10 minutes (in real time).

Sunlight
Sunlight refers to the light, particularly sky light, which illuminates all blocks directly below the sky, and which do not have a shadow cast over them by an opaque block or by inclement weather. Clouds themselves do not cast shadows; however, during inclement weather (rain and snow), the sky darkens and reduces the amount of sunlight in the world. During these storms the ambient light value during the day is reduced to 12 from the usual 15, and in thunderstorms the light level is reduced to 10 although treated as 5, allowing hostile mobs to spawn.

When the sun rises and sets, blocks exposed to sunlight change their light level depending on the angle of the sun, giving the effect of gradually getting lighter at dawn and gradually getting darker at dusk. However, shadows of blocks are not affected by the position of the sun in the sky, making sundials impossible.

Illumination decreases with depth underground until ultimately there is no illumination all. A gap or a vertical shaft in the ceiling of a cavern allows sunlight to filter in.

Sunlight can be used to turn dirt blocks into grass blocks, as long as there is an illuminated grass block adjacent to the dirt. Grass blocks spread quickest when exposed to sunlight at the high-point of the day (time 6000).

Effects on mobs


Sunlight affects how certain mobs spawn.

Except for bats, which require light level 4 or darker to spawn, passive mobs require light level 9 or higher to spawn; therefore, they do not spawn after sunset.

Hostile mobs, in contrast, do not spawn in direct sunlight at light level 7 or above. Skeletons, zombies, and phantoms are set on fire upon entering an area fully illuminated by sunlight, and they try to avoid such areas. They do not burn while in water, in the rain, wearing a helmet, or in the shade. Spiders become neutral while in direct sunlight, until attacked by the player. Endermen teleport away from players in sunlight. All other hostile mobs, such as creepers, slimes, and silverfish, are completely unaffected by sunlight.

Certain Nether mobs (such as zombie pigmen) "burn" when brought into sunlight, but otherwise remain unaffected due to their immunity to fire.

Boss mobs do not take damage from sunlight; they spawn regardless of the light level.

Trivia

 * The sun is visibly larger during sunrise and sunset.
 * If the player is underwater or underground and looks at the sun, it appears the same as the sun at sunset. This is due to the way the sun is rendered when in direct exposure to the sky.
 * Standing or flying at a height above the terrain of approximately 1.4× the render distance, the sun appears opposite to the moon in the sky, making it seem almost as if the player is in space.