Twilight


![Civil, nautical, and astronomical twilight. The Sun is shown to scale.[2]](/uploads/202501/10/Twilight_subcategories.svg3708.png)

Twilight is the illumination of the Earth's lower atmosphere when the Sun itself is not directly visible because it is below the horizon. Twilight is produced by sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere, illuminating the lower atmosphere so that the surface of the Earth is neither completely lit nor completely dark. The word "twilight" is also used to denote the periods of time when this illumination occurs.