diff --git a/pygmt/src/solar.py b/pygmt/src/solar.py
index 6aa59dd4527..372e168d0c7 100644
--- a/pygmt/src/solar.py
+++ b/pygmt/src/solar.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ def solar(
     r"""
     Plot day-night terminators and other sunlight parameters.
 
-    This function plots the day-night terminator. Alternatively, it can plot the
+    This method plots the day-night terminator. Alternatively, it can plot the
     terminators for civil twilight, nautical twilight, or astronomical twilight.
 
     Full GMT docs at :gmt-docs:`solar.html`.
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ def solar(
     {aliases}
        - G = fill
        - J = projection
-       - T = terminator, **+d**: terminator_datetime
+       - T = terminator, **+d**/**+z**: terminator_datetime
        - V = verbose
        - W = pen
        - c = panel
@@ -49,8 +49,7 @@ def solar(
     Parameters
     ----------
     terminator
-        Set the type of terminator displayed, which can be set with either the full name
-        or the first letter of the name. Available options are:
+        Set the type of terminator. Choose one of the following:
 
         - ``"astronomical"``: Astronomical twilight
         - ``"civil"``: Civil twilight
@@ -60,8 +59,12 @@ def solar(
         Refer to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight for the definitions of different
         types of twilight.
     terminator_datetime : str or datetime object
-        Set the UTC date and time of the displayed terminator [Default is the current
-        UTC date and time]. It can be passed as a string or Python datetime object.
+        Set the date and time for the terminator calculation. It can be provided as a
+        string or any datetime-like object recognized by :func:`pandas.to_datetime`. The
+        time can be specified in UTC or using a UTC offset. The offset must be an
+        integer number of hours (e.g., -8 or +5); fractional hours are truncated
+        towards zero (e.g., -8.5 becomes -8 and +5.5 becomes +5). [Default is the
+        current UTC date and time].
     {region}
     {projection}
     {frame}
@@ -102,12 +105,16 @@ def solar(
     """
     self._activate_figure()
 
-    datetime_string = None
+    datetime_string, datetime_timezone = None, None
     if terminator_datetime:
         try:
-            datetime_string = pd.to_datetime(terminator_datetime).strftime(
-                "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.%f"
-            )
+            _datetime = pd.to_datetime(terminator_datetime)
+            datetime_string = _datetime.strftime("%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.%f")
+            # GMT's solar module uses the C 'atoi' function to parse the timezone
+            # offset. Ensure the offset is an integer number of hours (e.g., -8 or +5).
+            # Fractional hours (e.g., -8.5 or +5.5) are truncated towards zero.
+            if utcoffset := _datetime.utcoffset():
+                datetime_timezone = int(utcoffset.total_seconds() / 3600)
         except ValueError as verr:
             raise GMTValueError(terminator_datetime, description="datetime") from verr
 
@@ -125,6 +132,7 @@ def solar(
                 },
             ),
             Alias(datetime_string, name="terminator_datetime", prefix="+d"),
+            Alias(datetime_timezone, name="terminator_timezone", prefix="+z"),
         ],
         W=Alias(pen, name="pen"),
     ).add_common(
diff --git a/pygmt/tests/baseline/test_solar_terminator_datetime_timezone.png.dvc b/pygmt/tests/baseline/test_solar_terminator_datetime_timezone.png.dvc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b9b496f70f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pygmt/tests/baseline/test_solar_terminator_datetime_timezone.png.dvc
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+outs:
+- md5: 10c5d3cadeb50764177bf49cbefeecb1
+  size: 48753
+  hash: md5
+  path: test_solar_terminator_datetime_timezone.png
diff --git a/pygmt/tests/test_solar.py b/pygmt/tests/test_solar.py
index a1b716bd7d0..b63b6b40899 100644
--- a/pygmt/tests/test_solar.py
+++ b/pygmt/tests/test_solar.py
@@ -119,3 +119,29 @@ def test_solar_default_terminator():
         terminator_datetime="1990-02-17 04:25:00",
     )
     return fig
+
+
+@pytest.mark.mpl_image_compare
+def test_solar_terminator_datetime_timezone():
+    """
+    Test passing the terminator_datetime argument with a time string that includes a
+    timezone.
+    """
+    fig = Figure()
+    fig.basemap(region="d", projection="W0/15c", frame=True)
+    fig.solar(terminator_datetime="2020-01-01T01:02:03", pen="1p,black")
+    fig.solar(terminator_datetime="2020-01-01T01:02:03+01:00", pen="1p,red")
+    fig.solar(terminator_datetime="2020-01-01T01:02:03-01:00", pen="1p,blue")
+    fig.solar(
+        terminator_datetime=datetime.datetime(
+            2020, 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, tzinfo=datetime.timezone(datetime.timedelta(hours=2))
+        ),
+        pen="1p,lightred",
+    )
+    fig.solar(
+        terminator_datetime=datetime.datetime(
+            2020, 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, tzinfo=datetime.timezone(datetime.timedelta(hours=-2))
+        ),
+        pen="1p,lightblue",
+    )
+    return fig