Antofagasta · Chile · 22.46° S · 68.92° W
Solar position in Calama
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Calama — computed for 22.46° S, 68.92° W, 2275 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Calama today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−3
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 05:38 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 06:06 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 06:33 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 06:56 | 103° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 07:26 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:19 | 79.5° high |
| Golden hour starts | 19:13 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 19:43 | 257° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 20:06 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 20:33 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 21:01 | 18° below |
| Day length | 12 h 47 min | |
Sun path diagram for Calama
Where the sun stands in the sky: the centre is straight overhead, the outer ring is the horizon. Numbers mark local clock hours.
- June solstice
- Equinox
- December solstice
- Today
On the June solstice the sun reaches 44.1° at solar noon in Calama; on the December solstice only 89.0°. Sunrise swings from 65° ENE in June to 116° ESE in December — a 51° arc along the horizon.
Sunrise, sunset and sun height by month
Values for the 21st of each month, local clock time including daylight saving time.
| Month | Sunrise | Solar noon | Sunset | Day length | Noon elevation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 07:08 | 13:47 | 20:25 | 13 h 16 min | 87.3° |
| February | 07:28 | 13:49 | 20:10 | 12 h 42 min | 77.9° |
| March | 07:39 | 13:42 | 19:45 | 12 h 06 min | 67.1° |
| April | 06:50 | 12:34 | 18:17 | 11 h 27 min | 55.5° |
| May | 07:03 | 12:32 | 18:00 | 10 h 57 min | 47.3° |
| June | 07:14 | 12:37 | 18:00 | 10 h 45 min | 44.1° |
| July | 07:13 | 12:42 | 18:10 | 10 h 57 min | 47.2° |
| August | 06:55 | 12:38 | 18:22 | 11 h 27 min | 55.6° |
| September | 07:26 | 13:28 | 19:31 | 12 h 05 min | 67.0° |
| October | 06:58 | 13:20 | 19:42 | 12 h 44 min | 78.4° |
| November | 06:43 | 13:21 | 20:00 | 13 h 17 min | 87.6° |
| December | 06:48 | 13:33 | 20:19 | 13 h 31 min | 89.0° |
A year of daylight in Calama
Each column is one day of 2026. Bright: sun above the horizon; soft: civil twilight; line: solar noon. Steps are daylight saving time changes.
Best solar panel angle in Calama
Fixed array facing north (azimuth 0°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
23°collects the most energy over a year: 2339 kWh per kWp.
28°gives the most in the darkest month — the one an off-grid system is sized for.
- Yearly energy
- Worst-month energy
| Tilt | kWh/kWp per year | Share of best year | June kWh/kWp/day | Best ÷ worst month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0° | 2172 | 93% | 3.99 | 1.9× |
| 15° | 2319 | 99% | 5.19 | 1.4× |
| 22° = latitude | 2339 | 100% | 5.63 | 1.2× |
| 23° year-round best | 2339 | 100% | 5.69 | 1.2× |
| 28° off-grid best | 2330 | 100% | 5.94 | 1.2× |
| 30° | 2323 | 99% | 6.03 | 1.2× |
| 45° | 2183 | 93% | 6.48 | 1.5× |
| 60° | 1913 | 82% | 6.51 | 2.1× |
| 70° | 1670 | 71% | 6.30 | 2.9× |
| 90° | 1120 | 48% | 5.33 | 5.8× |
A fixed array in Calama produces the most over a year at 23°. The design month for an off-grid system is June: at 28° it makes 5.94 kWh per kWp a day, 5% more than at 23°, and costs 0% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Calama at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 23° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 23° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 8.66 | 2.75 | 2.31 | 6.28 | 16.0 °C |
| February | 8.07 | 3.78 | 3.20 | 6.37 | 15.9 °C |
| March | 7.58 | 5.30 | 4.52 | 6.64 | 15.4 °C |
| April | 6.49 | 6.72 | 5.76 | 6.49 | 13.5 °C |
| May | 5.39 | 7.23 | 6.25 | 6.02 | 11.1 °C |
| June | 4.82 | 7.26 | 6.30 | 5.69 | 10.0 °C |
| July | 5.08 | 7.27 | 6.32 | 5.87 | 9.5 °C |
| August | 6.11 | 7.11 | 6.16 | 6.45 | 10.7 °C |
| September | 7.36 | 6.09 | 5.26 | 6.87 | 11.9 °C |
| October | 8.48 | 4.56 | 3.91 | 6.98 | 13.3 °C |
| November | 9.14 | 3.16 | 2.68 | 6.78 | 14.4 °C |
| December | 9.13 | 2.56 | 2.15 | 6.47 | 15.3 °C |
| Year | 7.19 avg | 5.32 avg | 1670 kWh | 2339 kWh |
Sizing example. To run a 1 kWh-per-day load through December on LiFePO4 batteries (charge controller, battery and inverter losses included) you need about 550 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 210 Wp at 23°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Calama
Distance between rows of 2 m long panels (slope length) so that no row shades the next between 10:00 and 14:00 solar time on the winter solstice.
2.8 mrow pitch at 70°
2.7 mrow pitch at 23°
How Calama compares in Chile
Against the other 138 places in Chile with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
1stof 139 places in Chile for sunshine: 7.19 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+40%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Chile: 2,339 against 1,668 kWh per kWp.
−52 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Santiago: 13 h 31 min against 14 h 23 min.
23°best year-round tilt here; across Chile it runs from 16° in Arica to 43° in Punta Arenas.
Calama gets the most sun of the 139 places in Chile (7.19 peak sun hours a day); the least sunny is Puerto Natales with 2.73. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 2.15 kWh a day here, against 2.61 kWh on average in Chile. The shortest day lasts 10 h 45 min, +50 min compared with Santiago.
Solar forecast for Calama, next 48 hours
Expected output of 1 kWp at 70°, computed from the ICON-EU weather model of the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), Europe.
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Questions about the sun in Calama
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Places near Calama
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A free, live card for Calama: where the sun is right now on today's path, a countdown to sunset or sunrise, the daylight change, the moon phase at night and the best panel angle.
Sun positions: NREL Solar Position Algorithm. Climate: NASA POWER monthly climatology (NASA Langley Research Center). Forecast: Deutscher Wetterdienst, ICON-EU (CC BY 4.0), processed. Places: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Time zones: IANA. Sources and licences.