When does it get dark in Thailand?

On the day when we have put the clocks back and entered our five months of very short daylight hours, I thought it might be worth 'visiting' the subject of daylight in the tropics.

Today Mark's GPS tracker was showing him at approximately 9 degrees north of the equator. Equatorial regions have a very different daylight and darkness regime to that of higher latitudes. Firstly, there is very little difference between daylight and darkness hours throughout the year and secondly, dawn and dusk are much shorter i.e. it becomes light or dark much faster. Regions at the equator can expect 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness all year round. At 9 degrees north, there will only ever be a very little difference between daylight and darkness hours and at present (between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere) it will amount to about an hour more darkness that daylight. However, there is an easy way of finding out whether it is dark in Thailand - or anywhere else for that matter !

If you click on the map above (for 19.22 GMT), it will link you to a website which gives you the answer.