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File:Daynight.png

Day/Night

The day/night cycle is a 20 minute long lapse between two main light settings.

Daytime

Daytime is the longest section of the cycle, lasting 10 minutes.

  • When a player first spawns in Infdev, Alpha, and Beta the cycle will always start right at the beginning of daytime.
  • Daytime features the Sun and a light blue sky. This color depends on the biome you are currently in. Deserts and Forests have a turquoise sky, while Tundra and Taiga have a more blue sky.
  • During daytime, all blocks that are in direct vertical view of the sky receive daylight, the strongest light possible, which is light level 15.
  • Daylight provides ample light for the growth of all trees and crops.
  • Zombies, Skeletons and Endermen in direct view of the sky (and not in water or minecarts) during daytime will be set on fire.

Sunset/Dusk

Lasts 1 ½ minutes.

Sunset

Example sunset seen from a high spot on the map.

  • A period between daytime and nighttime, when the Sun sets on the South horizon, and the Moon rises on the North horizon.
  • The light level of all blocks that are in direct vertical view of the sky and are not lit by other sources decreases by 1 every 10 seconds.
  • The sky near the setting sun will have a red glow when the sun sets.
  • Actual time of Sunset will not change if the texture for the sun is changed. The day/night cycle will be the same length with the same effects even if the sun is visibly larger or smaller.
  • The sun will also get visibly larger when it sets (optical illusion?).

Nighttime

TundraNight

A Tundra biome during the night; various Mobs can be seen.

Lasts 7 minutes.

  • During nighttime the world is covered in darkness with a light level of 4 and hostile mobs may spawn on the surface.
  • Nighttime features the Moon, and a dark blue sky, with white stars.


Sunrise/Dawn

Sunrise

Example of the sun rising in the horizon.

Lasts 1 ½ minutes.

  • A period between nighttime and daytime, when Moon sets on the South horizon and the Sun rises on the North horizon.
  • All blocks that are in direct vertical view of the sky get 1 shade of lighting brighter every 10 seconds.
  • The sky near the rising sun will have a red glow when the sun rises.
  • The sun will slowly shrink to its 8x8 pixel size while rising.

Clock

In the Halloween Update, Notch added a clock that lets you tell the time in the Minecraft world. It's crafted like this:
Template:Grid/Crafting Table

Note: The clock will spin uselessly in The Nether and The End, because time does not exist there.

Trivia

  • The sun and moon rotate around the player, not the center of the map
  • In the Minecraft sky, the Sun and Moon always appear in the same position relative to the stars.
  • When looking directly at a star that is uncovered by a cloud, it will appear over the cross-hair.
  • Day and night do not simulate when the game is paused in single player.
  • Passage of time in the game generally stops when you alt-tab away from the game (due to the menu appearing). To get around this, you can open a chest, your inventory, or a furnace, a dispenser, or even chat. This will prevent the menu from appearing when you switch tasks, allowing for time passage while you're in a different window.
  • Notch mentioned on his Twitter that the sun actually rises in the north in Minecraft.[1] This would mean that the Sun sets in the south, the Moon rises north and sets south, you would spawn facing north and that the clouds actually float west.
  • In the leaked 1.8 pre-release version this could be changed by pressing F6 (reverse time) and F7 (advance time) which allows you to manipulate the time of day/night.
  • In Minecraft 1.9 pre-release 4, the sun and moon rises in the east, and both will be circular.
  • In future releases of the Minecraft 1.9 pre-release, the Moon will go through eight lunar phases.[2][3]

Time Measurements

The following are approximations of Minecraft Time to Real Time:

  • 1 Minecraft Minute ≈ 0.8 seconds of gameplay.
  • 1 Minecraft Hour = 48 seconds of gameplay.
  • 1 Minecraft Day = 19.2 minutes of gameplay.
  • 1 Minecraft Week = 2.24 hours of gameplay.
  • 1 Minecraft Month = 9.6 hours of gameplay.
  • 1 Minecraft Year = 4.869895986 days of gameplay.

The approximation of Real Time to Minecraft Time:

  • 1 hour of gameplay = 3 Minecraft Days.
  • 1 day of gameplay = 72 Minecraft Days.
  • 1 week of gameplay ≈ 1.38 Minecraft Years, ≈ 16.559 Minecraft Months, = 72 Minecraft Weeks, = 504 Minecraft Days
  • 1 month of gameplay ≈ 5.914 Minecraft Years, ≈ 70.967 Minecraft Months, = 2,160/7 (≈ 308.571) Minecraft Weeks, = 2,160 Minecraft Days
  • 1 year of gameplay = 72 Minecraft Years, = 864 Minecraft Months, = 3,756.776904 Minecraft Weeks, = 26,297.438328 Minecraft Days

Months are assumed each month is 30 days long. Years are rounded off to 365.242199 days, and all close (contains ≈) measurements are rounded to the nearest thousandth, or 0.00x.


References

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