Solar Altitude & Azimuth: Sydney, Australia

Direct answer

In Sydney the sun reaches its highest point of the year, 79.6°, at 12:53 AEDT on 22 December, and its lowest noon altitude, 32.7°, on 21 June. On 21 June it is 19.0° high at 09:00 and 18.1° at 15:00 local time, bearing 43° and 316° from north. At solar noon on 21 June (11:56 AEST) the sun bears 0° (N) at 32.7°. On 21 December it is 38.5° high at 09:00 and 60.4° at 15:00. The tables below give altitude and azimuth for every daylight hour on the 21st of each month in Australia/Sydney clock time, calculated with NOAA's solar equations for the city-centre point.

Content and cited inputs reviewed by Harth team · Published 2026-08-26 · Updated 2026-09-25.

Where is the sun over Sydney at each hour on the solstices and equinoxes?

Sydney solar altitude at each hour, month by month

Sydney solar azimuth at each hour, month by month

Reading the Sydney angle tables

Altitude is the sun's height above the horizon; azimuth is its bearing clockwise from true north. Hours are local clock time, so rows shift by an hour across a daylight-saving change. On 21 June the sun stands 19.0° high at 09:00 (bearing 43° (NE)) and 18.1° at 15:00 (316° (NW)); those are the angles to test winter overshadowing from neighbouring buildings. On 21 December the same hours give 38.5° and 60.4°.

How these angles were calculated

Harth applied NOAA's solar-position equations, with standard atmospheric refraction, to the GeoNames point -33.8678, 151.2073 and converted each hour with the Australia/Sydney time zone. The angles hold to within about a tenth of a degree across the city centre; a site several kilometres away, or one with a raised horizon, should be recalculated from its own coordinates.

Where can you explore related guidance?

• Explore all solar data guidance
• Sun Path: Sydney, Australia
• Solar Shading Design: Sydney, Australia
• Daylight & Orientation: Sydney, Australia
• All solar & daylight data guidance for Australia
• House Construction Cost Planning: Sydney, Australia
• Office Construction Cost Planning: Sydney, Australia
• Retail Construction Cost Planning: Sydney, Australia
• School Construction Cost Planning: Sydney, Australia

Sources and method

Location: GeoNames point -33.8678, 151.2073 (GeoNames AU dump, CC BY 4.0, ID 2147714); time zone Australia/Sydney from the same GeoNames record. Sun positions, sunrise and sunset calculated by Harth with NOAA's solar calculator equations, including standard atmospheric refraction, for a sea-level horizon.

Source links

• download.geonames.org

• gml.noaa.gov