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Highest Solar Altitude
Calculator for the highest possible altitude of the sun at any latitude. The longitude is irrelevant for this calculation. The highest position of the sun is always reached at summer solstice around noon, on the northern hemisphere this is at June 21. An example with two German cities, the latitude of Berlin is 52.5 degrees and that of Munich is 48.1 degrees. Please enter one of both angles in decimal degrees, the other angle will be calculated.
Examples: the northernmost point on the European mainland is in Norway, a little away from the more famous North Cape, at a latitude of 71.18. The highest position of the sun there is 42.26 degrees, so the sun is still closer to the horizon than the zenith, as it is below 45 degrees. The southernmost point on the European mainland is at Punta de Tarifa in Spain at a latitude of 36.0. The highest position of the sun there is 77.44 degrees, so it is still more than 12 degrees from the zenith.
The highest solar altitude is calculated as 113.44° minus the latitude. It always occurs at 12 noon according to the true local time, which usually differs from the local time.
113.44° is 90° plus the ecliptic angle of 23.44°. The lowest solar altitude is each day at dusk and dawn at 0°. The lowest maximum altitude of the sun would be at noon at winter solstice at 66.56° minus latitude, this value calculates as 90° minus the ecliptic angle of 23.44°. Places north of 66.56° (and south of -66.56°) have days without sun.
Calculating the highest solar altitude at a particular point on Earth is therefore quite simple if you know its coordinates. It gets more complicated if you want to know the exact position of the sun at that point at a particular time, for this see the sun position calculator.
Last updated on 03/14/2026. Author: Jürgen Kummer
No responsibility is taken for the correctness of the calculations and information.
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German: Umrechnung von Geo-Koordinaten, Durchschnitt, Stapelverarbeitung, Himmelsrichtungen, Höchster Sonnenstand, Position
Italian: Calcolo con geo-coordinate
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