Altitude and Azimuth of the Sun or Moon During One Day

This data service calculates the altitude and azimuth of the Sun or Moon at multiple times during any day between 1700 and 2100. Simply specify the object, date, tabular interval, and location of interest below, and click on the "Get Data" button. The altitude and azimuth values are tabulated as a function of the time at the place requested on a 24-hour clock.

Use the buttons under Location to find coordinates of cities or towns in the U.S. or its territories, or to convert between Degrees-Minutes-Seconds (DMS) and Decimal Degrees.

Please read the Notes section for details on the data.

US Location For example: Washington, DC

City

State or Territory

The place name you enter above must be a city or town in the U.S. The place's location will be retrieved from a list of over 22,000 places. Either upper- or lower-case letters or a combination can be used. Spell out place name prefixes, as in "East Orange", "Fort Lauderdale", "Mount Vernon", etc. The only exception is "St.", which is entered as an abbreviation with a period, as in "St. Louis". You need only enter as many characters as will unambiguously identify the place.

Object

Sun

Moon

Date Format: YYYY-MM-DD

Tabular Interval minutes (range 1-120 minutes)

Location Coordinates in decimal degrees, North and East are positive. For example: 38.9072, -77.0369

Latitude

Longitude

Location Label Custom label for printed output. For example: Washington, DC

Need coordinates? Try NGA's GEOnet Names Server (GNS)
Need U.S. coordinates? Try the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) .

Time Zone Example: 5 hours West of Greenwich (UTC-5) is Eastern Standard Time

hours

direction

East of Greenwich (UTC)

West of Greenwich (UTC)

Need a time zone? Try the time zone map.

Notes on the Data:

The altitude and azimuth values are for the center of the apparent disk of the Sun or Moon. The altitude values include the effect of standard atmospheric refraction when the object is above the horizon. The azimuth values are computed with respect to true north (not magnetic). For instructions on using a true azimuth (bearing) with a compass, see NOAA's Geomagnetism FAQs . To determine the magnetic declination for a specific location and date, see NOAA's Geophysical Data Center - Magnetic Declination calculator .

A break in the output table indicates the object has dropped more than 12 degrees below the horizon and is not near the horizon again until the next indicated time.

For rise and set times, see Sun and Moon Data for One Day.

Time Zones

When using the "Need USA Location" button, the service will fill the Time Zone hours field and set the Time Zone direction button according to the current standard time zone of the US place entered.

The railroads introduced standardized time zones to the USA in 1883. Since then, time zone boundaries have evolved considerably, with many cities and counties shifting from one zone to another. This service makes no attempt to track such historical changes.

For locations that require it, you may enter the time zone in decimal hours. For example, for locations in India, you may enter 5.5 hours east of Greenwich for the time zone. The time zone field can accommodate up to five characters.

Legal Use of the Calculated Data

Please see Astronomical Data Used for Litigation if you are interested in using the data produced by this service for legal purposes.