B757-200 CAPT QUESTIONS IF HE WAS LEGAL LNDG AFTER SUNSET WITHOUT RWY LIGHTING. HIS COMPANY OPS MANUAL STATES NIGHT AS BTWN THE END OF EVENING CIVIL TWILIGHT AND THE BEGINNING OF MORNING CIVIL TWILIGHT.

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APCH CTLR CLRED US FOR A VISUAL APCH THEN HANDED US OFF TO THE TWR (LCL CTL). WE HAD THE ARPT AND RWY IN SIGHT FROM 30 MI OUT. TWR INFORMED US THE RWY LIGHTS WERE OUT AND THAT LNDG WOULD BE AT OUR DISCRETION. SINCE WE HAD THE RWY AND ALL MARKINGS CLRLY IN SIGHT; WE CONTINUED THE APCH AND LNDG. OUR OPS MANUAL DEFINES NIGHT AS 'THE END OF CIVIL TWILIGHT' NOT FROM 'OFFICIAL SUNSET TO SUNRISE.' THE CONFUSION HERE IS WHAT THE MEANING OF; OR DEFINITION OF; 'END OF CIVIL TWILIGHT.' IF IT MEANS 'OFFICIAL SUNSET;' THEN I BELIEVE OUR OPS MANUAL SHOULD BE REVISED TO STATE SO TO AVOID CONFUSION. I WILL BRING THIS TO THE ATTN OF OUR TRAINING DEPT SO THAT CREWS WILL KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THE CORRECT MEANING IS; AS I KNOW ATC USES 'OFFICIAL SUNSET' TO SWITCH ON ARPT LIGHTING. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR WAS ADVISED OF THE OFFICIAL DEFINITION OF NIGHT PER FAR 1.1 AND THAT HIS COMPANY MANUAL IS CORRECT IN ITS REF TO NIGHT. THE EXACT TIME OF NIGHT STARTING AND STARTING IS THEREFORE FOUND IN THE AMERICAN AIR ALMANAC FOR THE LOCATION IN LCL TIME. IT IS NOT FROM SUNSET THROUGH SUNRISE BUT EQUAL TO 30-40 MINS AFTER SUNSET OR BEFORE SUNRISE.