Is sun always rises in the east?

Answer 1

Yes it does, for all of us on earth.

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There are a few places on earth such as Iceland, northern Greenland and the areas around the Arctic Circle, in late June, that the Sun rises mostly to the North. And sets, 22 hours later, mostly to the North-northwest. And rises again, 2 hours later, mostly to the north-northeast.

Ditto for the Antarctic circle and December, where the Sun rises in the south-southeast.

ANSWER

I would like to improve the answer directly above. If you are standing on the Arctic Circle on Jun 21st the Sun will appear to rise exactly to the North. Six hours later it will appear to be about 23 degrees above the eastern horizon. At "high noon" the Sun will appear to be at it's zenith (45 degrees) exactly to the South. For the rest of the day the Sun starts to descend. It will appear to be about 23 degrees above the western horizon, 18 hours after it rose. Then the Sun will set exactly where it rose, due north, 24 hours earlier. This is an example of the 24 hours of Sun-up that makes the Arctic region so magical.

As you can see the Sun did not rise in the east nor did it set in the west. Also you need to realize that there are months at a time, in the Arctic, where the sun does not rise or set, at all. It just appears to circle overhead.

And yes everything I just said also happens in the South Polar region only in December instead of June.

To finish this thought, if you were standing on the Arctic Circle on the 21st of December, the Sun would just peak above the horizon to your due South then sink out of sight again a minute later. This is how we get 24 hours of darkness in the Arctic.

Since we were little children we have been taught that the Sun always rises in the East. It is an oversimplification and therefore an incorrect answer. Having said that, the Sun does rise due east everywhere on the planet just twice a year; on the spring and fall equinoxes. Also the Sun does rise due East, all year round, if you are standing on the equator.

This is a very difficult concept to visualize. If you live near a planetarium, appropriately qualified operators can demonstrate this phenomenon with their star projector.

Answer 2

Only in the vaguest sense, and this is assuming you can say it "rises" at all (what's actually happening is that the Earth is rotating).

The sun usually doesn't rise "true East", but some amount either north or south of that, and the amount that it's north or south of true East for any given place varies over the course of a year.

At the north pole, the Sun must of necessity rise in the south, as all directions are south from the north pole.

At the south pole, the Sun rises in the north, for much the same reason.

About all that it's possible to say with confidence is that the Sun never appears to rise in the west.