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Dusk and twilight
Wednesday, November 30th, 2005 01:11 pmWhat do you understand by the terms "dusk" and "twilight"? I always thought "dusk" was from when the light began to fade until half light, and "twilight" thereafter until dark, but my dictionary has it the other way around.
Merriam-Webster concurs, describing twilight as "the light from the sky [...] between sunset and full night" and dusk as "the darker part of twilight especially at night". Yet the National Maritime Museum seems to agree with me, defining civil twilight with: "when the Sun's centre is 6° below the horizon, is roughly equivalent to Lighting-up Time. In the UK, it is between 30 and 60 minutes after sunset. The brightest stars are visible and at sea the horizon is clearly defined."
Merriam-Webster concurs, describing twilight as "the light from the sky [...] between sunset and full night" and dusk as "the darker part of twilight especially at night". Yet the National Maritime Museum seems to agree with me, defining civil twilight with: "when the Sun's centre is 6° below the horizon, is roughly equivalent to Lighting-up Time. In the UK, it is between 30 and 60 minutes after sunset. The brightest stars are visible and at sea the horizon is clearly defined."
