The FAA defines night differently for different regulatory purposes. Position lights are required during the period from sunset to sunrise (14 CFR 91.209). In order to carry passengers during the period beginning 1 hour after sunset and ending 1 hour before sunrise, the pilot in command must have made at least three takeoffs and three landings to a FULL STOP between 1 hour after sunset and 1 hour before sunrise within the preceding 90 days. The pilot must also have been the sole manipulator of the controls, so a CFI could not count any night takeoffs and landings toward the currency requirement unless he or she (and not the student) had made them (14 CFR 61.57). For logbook purposes, night is defined as the time between the end of evening civil twilight and the beginning of morning civil twilight, as published in the American Air Almanac, converted to local time (14 CFR Part 1). Evening civil twilight could last anywhere from 15 minutes to nearly an hour depending upon the time of year and one’s geographic position, so pilots desiring to log night time for ratings or currency requirements will need to check.