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Burj Khalifa against the dusk sky with the sun sitting exactly on its spire

The sun
on the spire

Twice a year, from the right spot in Dubai, the setting or rising sun sits exactly on the tip of Burj Khalifa. Burjhenge tells you where to stand, at what minute, and how to get there.

  1. FIND THE SPOT
  2. GO THERE
  3. ALIGN THE SUN
  4. TAKE THE SHOT
  5. SHARE IT

01How it works

From any spot, the tip of the tower sits at a fixed height above your horizon. When the sun reaches that height in the direction of the tower, it sits on the spire.

828M 15° 6° 8 KM3 KM BURJ NOT TO SCALE

Where the sun sets slides north along the horizon until June and back south until December. It crosses any one direction twice a year, once each way. Those are the two days.

Closer to the tower the tip is higher, so the moment comes earlier. Farther away it comes just before sunset.

02Find your spot

Today. The main screen opens on today's spot: the date, the gold time to be there, and how far it is from Burj Khalifa. Arrows or the date change the day.

Your own place. Open MY PLACE, allow your location or paste a Google Maps link, and set your floor. Burjhenge finds the dates when the sun lands on the tip as seen from there.

Everything is worked out on your phone. Your location is not sent anywhere.

03Get there

ROUTE opens the spot in Google Maps. When the day has a spot on land and one on the water, it asks how you are going.

ROUTE ›
17:24

Drag the timeline or press play to see the sun move past the tip before you go. It always glides back to the moment.

04Take the shot

The point is not the pin on a map. It is standing there when the sun touches the tip.

  • Be there 15 minutes early. The sun takes about two minutes to cross the tip. The centred moment lasts seconds.
  • Stay on the pin. Walking toward or away from the tower shifts the time by seconds. Stepping sideways moves the sun off the tip.
  • Watch the haze. Dust often hides the sun low on the horizon. A closer spot means a higher sun and better odds.
  • Expose for the sun and the tower turns into a clean silhouette.
DistanceTowerLensPhone
3 km15°~60 mm2–3×
5 km9°~100 mm3–5×
8 km6°~150 mm5×
15 km3°~300 mm10×, steady hand

Lens to fit the whole tower with a little sky, 35 mm equivalent. The marked row is the distance in the example above. The sun is always about half a degree, so the farther you stand, the bigger it looks next to the tower.

05Share it

Got the shot? Tag it #burjhenge or send it to @burjhenge.

Every real photo is proof the alignment happens, and shows the next person where to stand.

@BURJHENGE

06Questions

How accurate are the times?
The sun position matches NOAA's solar calculator to within a few seconds, with refraction included. The curve of the Earth is ignored, which shifts the moment by a few seconds at most. Times are in Dubai time.
What about sunrise?
Same idea, from spots west of the tower: Jumeirah, the coast, the sea. Tap SUNSET to switch to SUNRISE.
Does it work from my balcony?
Yes, if it faces the tower from the east (for sunset) or the west (for sunrise). Open MY PLACE and set your floor.
Found a mistake or have an idea?
Write to us. If a time or a spot was off, say where you stood and what you saw.
WRITE TO US ›
FIND TODAY'S SPOT