Sun



The sun is a celestial body that provides light and life for the Minecraft world.

Daytime


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

Sunlight
Sunlight refers to the 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 will be reduced to 12 from the usual 15, and in thunderstorms the light level will be reduced to 10, though treated like it were 5, allowing hostile mobs to spawn.

When the sun rises and sets, blocks exposed to sunlight will 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 (except in Pocket Edition).

The deeper underground the player is, the less sunlight will illuminate the ground, until ultimately there will be no sunlight at all. A gap or a vertical shaft in the ceiling of a cavern will allow 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 will spread quickest when exposed to sunlight, which is at the high-point of the day, time 6000.

Effects on mobs


Sunlight affects how certain mobs will spawn.

Most passive mobs require light level 9 or higher to spawn (with exception to bats, which require light level 4 or darker), therefore will not naturally spawn after sunset.

Hostile mobs, in contrast, will not spawn in direct sunlight at light level 7 or above. Skeletons and zombies will be set on fire upon entering an area fully illuminated by sunlight, and will try to avoid contact. They will not burn while in water, in the rain, wearing a helmet, or in the shade. Spiders will turn neutral while in direct sunlight, until attacked by the player. Endermen will 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) will "burn" when brought into sunlight, but otherwise remain unaffected due to their immunity to fire. Nether mobs (with exception to wither skeletons) can spawn in all light conditions.

Boss mobs do not take damage from sunlight, and will spawn regardless of 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 1.4x the render distance, the sun will appear opposite to the moon in the sky, making it seem almost as if the player is in space.