How to use this tool
- Choose a place and date. The card shows solar noon, the sun’s height at that moment and today’s equation of time.
- Check the coming seasons. The table lists the solstices and equinoxes of this year and next, in local time and UTC, with a countdown to the next one.
- Explore the charts. See how solar noon drifts through the year, the equation of time curve, the analemma and the sun path diagram.
What moves solar noon
- Longitude within the time zone. Every degree west of the time zone’s reference meridian makes solar noon 4 minutes later.
- Daylight saving time adds one hour in summer.
- The equation of time shifts solar noon by up to about 16 minutes through the year.
The guide what is solar noon explains each effect with a worked example, and why the earliest sunset is not on the shortest day shows the most visible consequence of the equation of time.
The analemma
If you photographed the sun at exactly the same clock time every day for a year, it would trace a figure eight in the sky: the analemma. Its height comes from the sun’s changing declination through the seasons; its width comes from the equation of time. The chart shows the analemma for the selected place, with the sun’s position on the selected date marked.
Solstices and equinoxes
Solstices and equinoxes are exact moments, not whole days. At the solstices the sun reaches its northernmost or southernmost point; at the equinoxes it crosses the celestial equator. Their local date can differ from the UTC date: the December solstice 2026 falls at 20:50 UTC on 21 December, which is already 22 December in Tokyo and Sydney. More in solstices and equinoxes explained, and on the pages for each coming event.
Uses
- Finding true north: at solar noon, vertical shadows point exactly north (in the Northern Hemisphere outside the tropics).
- Photography: noon light is the hardest and shadows are shortest.
- Sun protection: UV radiation peaks around solar noon, not 12:00.
- Solar panels: south-facing panels produce most around solar noon.
Last updated September 23, 2026