Planetary hours · London
Planetary hours today in London
Monday, October 26, 2026 is a Moon day. Sunrise 6:43 AM, sunset 4:44 PM: each day hour runs 50 minutes, each night hour 70.
Photo: Bruno Passos / Burst
At a glance
Today in London the first planetary hour is Moon's, from 6:43 AM to 7:33 AM. Venus hours: 10:53 AM, 4:44 PM, 12:54 AM.
- Day ruler
- MoonMonday's planet
- Sunrise
- 6:43 AMstarts hour 1
- Sunset
- 4:44 PMstarts hour 13
- Hour length
- 50 / 70 minday / night
- At build time
- Sun hourthe live finder updates it
Any other city: open the calculatorType your own location for its exact table.
Today's table
London runs on sunrise
Down the river from where clock time was standardised, the older hours still turn with the Sun.
London sits at more than 51 degrees north, and that latitude makes its planetary hours the most dramatic of the five cities we cover. Summer hours run long, winter hours run startlingly short.
Today the day hours are about 50 minutes and the night hours about 70. The day opens with Moon's hour, then the Chaldean order turns: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon.
There is a nice historical twist. Greenwich, a few miles down the river, gave the world its prime meridian and Greenwich Mean Time, the clock hours we all use now. Planetary hours are the older system that clock time replaced.
The sky behind it
Computed for 51.51°, -0.13° in Europe/London. Times rounded to the minute.
| Hour | Day hours | Starts | Night hours | Starts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moon | 6:43 AM | Venus | 4:44 PM |
| 2 | Saturn | 7:33 AM | Mercury | 5:54 PM |
| 3 | Jupiter | 8:23 AM | Moon | 7:04 PM |
| 4 | Mars | 9:13 AM | Saturn | 8:14 PM |
| 5 | Sun | 10:03 AM | Jupiter | 9:24 PM |
| 6 | Venus | 10:53 AM | Mars | 10:34 PM |
| 7 | Mercury | 11:44 AM | Sun | 11:44 PM |
| 8 | Moon | 12:34 PM | Venus | 12:54 AM |
| 9 | Saturn | 1:24 PM | Mercury | 2:05 AM |
| 10 | Jupiter | 2:14 PM | Moon | 3:15 AM |
| 11 | Mars | 3:04 PM | Saturn | 4:25 AM |
| 12 | Sun | 3:54 PM | Jupiter | 5:35 AM |
The long hours
Midsummer: hours that won't end
Try this today
- On the longest Sunday you can, spend the whole Sun hour outdoors.
- Look at the night table too: notice how short the summer night hours get.
Around June 21, London's Sun rises at 4:43 a.m. and sets at 9:21 p.m.. Each day hour runs a remarkable 83 minutes.
That is almost an hour and a half per planetary hour. A Sun hour on a June Sunday can cover a whole picnic. The night hours, meanwhile, shrink to sliver size, and the whole planetary night passes in a few quick turns.
If you have only ever looked at planetary hours in the abstract, June in London is the best demonstration that they are not clock hours at all.
The short hours
Midwinter: the forty-minute hour
Try this today
- Check the table in the morning: in winter, hours pass faster than you expect.
- Use a long Saturn night hour for slow, finishing work.
By December 21, the Sun rises at 8:03 a.m. and sets at 3:53 p.m.. A London day hour shrinks to 39 minutes, less than two-thirds of a clock hour.
That is a real constraint if you like to time things. A Mercury hour for an important email might pass while you are still making tea. Night hours, in turn, swell to well over an hour each, so winter evenings carry long, heavy planetary hours.
We set London's finder to Saturn by default, the planet tradition gives to patience, structure and the long dark, which suits a December evening here.
Clock time vs Sun time
British Summer Time and the Sun
The UK starts British Summer Time on March 29 and returns to GMT on October 25 in 2026. Planetary hours carry on as if nothing happened, because they are anchored to sunrise.
The clocks go back on October 25, so from late October sunrise will suddenly look an hour earlier on your phone. The live finder takes care of it.
The extremes: London's earliest sunrise in 2026 is 4:42 a.m. on June 17, and its latest sunset 9:21 p.m. on June 25.
The sky behind it
| Moment | Date | Sunrise | Sunset | Day hour |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Longest day hours | June 21 | 4:43 a.m. | 9:21 p.m. | 83.2 min |
| Shortest day hours | December 21 | 8:03 a.m. | 3:53 p.m. | 39.1 min |
| Earliest sunrise | June 17 | 4:42 a.m. | ||
| Latest sunset | June 25 | 9:21 p.m. | ||
| Clocks go forward | March 29 | no change | ||
| Clocks go back | October 25 | no change |
Live finder
What hour is it in London right now?
Opens on Saturn. Tap another planet or choose a date.
Loading the live hour for London...
More to read
One shorter read. It opens in place.
Why this default
The Saturn hour, and London
A little history: hours of unequal length were ordinary in the ancient and medieval world. Romans counted twelve hours of daylight whatever the season, and the planetary rulership of the hours is recorded in late antiquity (the third-century historian Cassius Dio explains the seven-day week this way). Equal hours took over with mechanical clocks and, much later, railway time.
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Quick answers
Do planetary hours use GMT or BST?
Neither, really. They follow sunrise and sunset. We display them in UK local time, which is BST in summer and GMT in winter; the switch in 2026 is on March 29 and October 25.
Are London times right for Manchester or Edinburgh?
Not exactly. Cities farther north and west have noticeably different sunrises, especially in winter, so the hours can shift by several minutes or more. Use the main calculator with your own place.
Why are winter planetary hours so short in London?
Because London is far north. On the shortest days there are under eight hours of daylight to split into twelve parts, so each day hour is about 39 minutes.
