Sun Path: Melbourne, Australia

Direct answer

For Melbourne at -37.8140, 144.9633, the declination-only solar-noon altitude is approximately 28.8° at the June solstice, 52.2° at an equinox and 75.6° 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 2158177 in administrative area 07, at -37.8140, 144.9633; replace it with the surveyed parcel point before relying on the result. As a transparent geometry check, declination-only solar-noon altitude is about 28.8° at the June solstice, 52.2° at an equinox and 75.6° at the December solstice. Representative 21st-day geometry ranges from about 9.4 hours in June to 14.6 hours in December; 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 sun path record.

Prepared by Harth · Prepared from the cited location and country sources; local project inputs remain unreviewed · Published 2026-08-26 · Updated 2026-08-31.

What must be verified for Melbourne?

Melbourne is represented here at approximately -37.8140, 144.9633 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 sun path 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 sun-path-workflow page is a project-starting worksheet, not a design value or approval. The controlling authority and qualified professionals for the Melbourne site remain authoritative.

Melbourne monthly solar geometry check for sun path

Melbourne solar-geometry fingerprint at -37.8140, 144.9633

• Melbourne, 21 January: declination -20.14°, noon altitude 72.32°, zenith 17.68°, geometric daylight 14.205 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 0.319.
• Melbourne, 21 February: declination -11.23°, noon altitude 63.41°, zenith 26.59°, geometric daylight 13.181 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 0.500.
• Melbourne, 21 March: declination -0.40°, noon altitude 52.59°, zenith 37.41°, geometric daylight 12.042 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 0.765.
• Melbourne, 21 April: declination +11.58°, noon altitude 40.61°, zenith 49.39°, geometric daylight 10.780 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 1.166.
• Melbourne, 21 May: declination +20.14°, noon altitude 32.05°, zenith 57.95°, geometric daylight 9.795 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 1.597.
• Melbourne, 21 June: declination +23.45°, noon altitude 28.74°, zenith 61.26°, geometric daylight 9.377 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 1.824.
• Melbourne, 21 July: declination +20.44°, noon altitude 31.74°, zenith 58.26°, geometric daylight 9.758 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 1.616.
• Melbourne, 21 August: declination +11.75°, noon altitude 40.43°, zenith 49.57°, geometric daylight 10.761 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 1.174.
• Melbourne, 21 September: declination -0.20°, noon altitude 52.39°, zenith 37.61°, geometric daylight 12.021 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 0.770.
• Melbourne, 21 October: declination -11.75°, noon altitude 63.94°, zenith 26.06°, geometric daylight 13.239 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 0.489.
• Melbourne, 21 November: declination -20.44°, noon altitude 72.63°, zenith 17.37°, geometric daylight 14.242 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 0.313.
• Melbourne, 21 December: declination -23.45°, noon altitude 75.64°, zenith 14.36°, geometric daylight 14.623 hours, and vertical-object noon shadow ratio 0.256.

Harth computed the Melbourne fingerprint for latitude -37.8140° with the Cooper declination approximation, 90° - |latitude - declination| at solar noon, centre-to-centre sunrise hour angle and 1 / tan(altitude) shadow ratio. Longitude 144.9633° 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: Melbourne City Centre, Australia
• Sun Path: City of Port Phillip, Australia
• Sun Path: Reservoir, Australia
• Sun Path: Craigieburn, Australia
• All solar & daylight data guidance for Australia

Sources and method

Location data from the GeoNames AU dump (CC BY 4.0, snapshot 2026-08-31, GeoNames ID 2158177). Regulatory starting point: Australian Building Codes Board and the applicable state or territory 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.

Source links

• download.geonames.org

• ncc.abcb.gov.au

• gml.noaa.gov