Solar Altitude & Azimuth: Carlow, Ireland

Direct answer

For Carlow at 52.8408, -6.9261, the declination-only solar-noon altitude is approximately 60.6° at the June solstice, 37.2° at an equinox and 13.7° at the December solstice. Refine these geometry checks with the project date, civil time, facade azimuth, terrain and local horizon. The reproducible location record is GeoNames ID 2965768 in administrative area L, at 52.8408, -6.9261; replace it with the surveyed parcel point before relying on the result. As a transparent geometry check, declination-only solar-noon altitude is about 60.6° at the June solstice, 37.2° at an equinox and 13.7° at the December solstice. Representative 21st-day geometry ranges from about 7.3 hours in December to 16.7 hours in June; this excludes atmospheric refraction, terrain and obstruction effects. The cited national authority is a discovery starting point; current local documents and a named qualified reviewer control project use of this solar altitude and azimuth record.

Content and cited inputs reviewed by Scott Barrington, Harth founder and architectural technology specialist · Published 2026-08-26 · Updated 2026-09-02.

What must be verified for Carlow?

Carlow is represented here at approximately 52.8408, -6.9261 for discovery and workflow planning. A project address, parcel, elevation, exposure, authority, and submission date must replace that city-centre reference before design use.

How should solar altitude and azimuth be established?

1. Fix the surveyed site and local time basis.
2. Select an authoritative weather source or a named solar-position algorithm.
3. Record period, percentile or scenario and units.
4. Test sensitivity to elevation, exposure, urban form and horizon.
5. Save the source file, retrieval date and checker in the model record.

What are the limits of this worksheet?

This solar-angle-workflow page is a project-starting worksheet, not a design value or approval. The controlling authority and qualified professionals for the Carlow site remain authoritative.

Carlow monthly solar geometry check for solar altitude & azimuth

Carlow solar-geometry fingerprint at 52.8408, -6.9261

• Carlow, 21 January: declination -20.14°, noon altitude 17.02°, zenith 72.98°, geometric daylight 8.142 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 3.267.
• Carlow, 21 February: declination -11.23°, noon altitude 25.93°, zenith 64.07°, geometric daylight 9.976 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 2.056.
• Carlow, 21 March: declination -0.40°, noon altitude 36.76°, zenith 53.24°, geometric daylight 11.929 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 1.339.
• Carlow, 21 April: declination +11.58°, noon altitude 48.74°, zenith 41.26°, geometric daylight 14.091 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 0.877.
• Carlow, 21 May: declination +20.14°, noon altitude 57.30°, zenith 32.70°, geometric daylight 15.858 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 0.642.
• Carlow, 21 June: declination +23.45°, noon altitude 60.61°, zenith 29.39°, geometric daylight 16.655 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 0.563.
• Carlow, 21 July: declination +20.44°, noon altitude 57.60°, zenith 32.40°, geometric daylight 15.928 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 0.635.
• Carlow, 21 August: declination +11.75°, noon altitude 48.91°, zenith 41.09°, geometric daylight 14.125 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 0.872.
• Carlow, 21 September: declination -0.20°, noon altitude 36.96°, zenith 53.04°, geometric daylight 11.964 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 1.329.
• Carlow, 21 October: declination -11.75°, noon altitude 25.41°, zenith 64.59°, geometric daylight 9.875 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 2.106.
• Carlow, 21 November: declination -20.44°, noon altitude 16.72°, zenith 73.28°, geometric daylight 8.072 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 3.329.
• Carlow, 21 December: declination -23.45°, noon altitude 13.71°, zenith 76.29°, geometric daylight 7.345 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 4.099.

Harth computed the Carlow fingerprint for latitude 52.8408° with the Cooper declination approximation, 90° - |latitude - declination| at solar noon, centre-to-centre sunrise hour angle and 1 / tan(altitude) shadow ratio. Longitude -6.9261° is retained for a later civil-time conversion; this screen does not perform that conversion. See NOAA's solar calculation details. Atmospheric refraction, terrain, facade azimuth and obstructions remain outside this first-pass comparison.

Where can you explore related guidance?

• Explore all solar data guidance
• Sun Path: Carlow, Ireland
• Solar Shading Design: Carlow, Ireland
• Daylight & Orientation: Carlow, Ireland
• Solar Altitude & Azimuth: Droichead Nua, Ireland
• All solar & daylight data guidance for Ireland
• House Construction Cost Planning: Carlow, Ireland
• Office Construction Cost Planning: Carlow, Ireland
• Retail Construction Cost Planning: Carlow, Ireland
• School Construction Cost Planning: Carlow, Ireland

Sources and method

Location data from the GeoNames IE dump (CC BY 4.0, snapshot 2026-08-31, GeoNames ID 2965768). Regulatory starting point: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the local building-control authority. Figures are illustrative — verify against the current locally adopted edition for the site. Solar-method context: NOAA Solar Calculation Details; the Harth monthly table uses a simpler declination and geometric-daylight approximation whose stated limitations must be retained. Project-date refinement reference: NREL Solar Position Algorithm.

Source links

• download.geonames.org

• gov.ie

• gml.noaa.gov

• midcdmz.nrel.gov