Atacama · Chile · 27.07° S · 70.82° W
Solar position in Caldera
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Caldera — computed for 27.07° S, 70.82° W, 23 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Caldera today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−3
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 05:37 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 06:06 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 06:35 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 06:59 | 104° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 07:30 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 13:27 | 74.9° high |
| Golden hour starts | 19:24 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 19:56 | 256° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 20:20 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 20:48 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 21:17 | 18° below |
| Day length | 12 h 57 min | |
Sun path diagram for Caldera
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 39.5° at solar noon in Caldera; on the December solstice only 86.4°. Sunrise swings from 64° ENE in June to 117° ESE in December — a 53° 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 | 07:07 | 13:54 | 20:40 | 13 h 33 min | 82.7° |
| February | 07:31 | 13:56 | 20:21 | 12 h 51 min | 73.3° |
| March | 07:47 | 13:50 | 19:52 | 12 h 06 min | 62.5° |
| April | 07:02 | 12:41 | 18:20 | 11 h 18 min | 50.9° |
| May | 07:19 | 12:39 | 18:00 | 10 h 41 min | 42.7° |
| June | 07:32 | 12:45 | 17:58 | 10 h 26 min | 39.5° |
| July | 07:29 | 12:49 | 18:10 | 10 h 41 min | 42.6° |
| August | 07:07 | 12:46 | 18:25 | 11 h 18 min | 51.0° |
| September | 07:33 | 13:36 | 19:39 | 12 h 05 min | 62.4° |
| October | 07:01 | 13:27 | 19:54 | 12 h 53 min | 73.8° |
| November | 06:42 | 13:29 | 20:16 | 13 h 34 min | 82.9° |
| December | 06:45 | 13:41 | 20:36 | 13 h 51 min | 86.4° |
A year of daylight in Caldera
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 Caldera
Fixed array facing north (azimuth 0°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
24°collects the most energy over a year: 1783 kWh per kWp.
49°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° | 1651 | 93% | 2.55 | 2.5× |
| 15° | 1765 | 99% | 3.26 | 1.8× |
| 24° year-round best | 1783 | 100% | 3.59 | 1.6× |
| 27° = latitude | 1780 | 100% | 3.68 | 1.5× |
| 30° | 1773 | 99% | 3.76 | 1.5× |
| 45° | 1676 | 94% | 4.03 | 1.2× |
| 49° off-grid best | 1633 | 92% | 4.06 | 1.2× |
| 60° | 1482 | 83% | 4.05 | 1.4× |
| 70° | 1306 | 73% | 3.92 | 1.8× |
| 90° | 888 | 50% | 3.35 | 3.3× |
A fixed array in Caldera produces the most over a year at 24°. The design month for an off-grid system is June: at 49° it makes 4.06 kWh per kWp a day, 13% more than at 24°, and costs 8% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Caldera at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 24° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 24° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7.64 | 3.13 | 2.59 | 5.69 | 19.6 °C |
| February | 7.16 | 3.98 | 3.32 | 5.76 | 19.8 °C |
| March | 5.89 | 4.61 | 3.87 | 5.24 | 18.8 °C |
| April | 4.59 | 4.89 | 4.14 | 4.57 | 16.9 °C |
| May | 3.47 | 4.48 | 3.82 | 3.73 | 15.4 °C |
| June | 3.15 | 4.57 | 3.92 | 3.59 | 14.1 °C |
| July | 3.45 | 4.89 | 4.20 | 3.91 | 13.3 °C |
| August | 4.26 | 5.02 | 4.31 | 4.47 | 13.7 °C |
| September | 5.36 | 4.79 | 4.10 | 5.08 | 14.1 °C |
| October | 6.39 | 4.08 | 3.47 | 5.44 | 15.1 °C |
| November | 7.19 | 3.28 | 2.75 | 5.57 | 16.4 °C |
| December | 7.63 | 2.89 | 2.41 | 5.62 | 17.9 °C |
| Year | 5.51 avg | 4.22 avg | 1306 kWh | 1783 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 490 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 330 Wp at 24°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Caldera
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.
3.2 mrow pitch at 70°
2.9 mrow pitch at 24°
How Caldera compares in Chile
Against the other 138 places in Chile with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
12thof 139 places in Chile for sunshine, shared: 5.51 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
+7%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Chile: 1,783 against 1,668 kWh per kWp.
−32 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with Santiago: 13 h 51 min against 14 h 23 min.
24°best year-round tilt here; across Chile it runs from 16° in Arica to 43° in Punta Arenas.
Of the 139 places in Chile, Calama gets the most sun (7.19 peak sun hours a day) and Puerto Natales the least (2.73); Caldera ranks joint 12th. In its darkest month, December, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 2.41 kWh a day here, against 2.61 kWh on average in Chile. The shortest day lasts 10 h 26 min, +30 min compared with Santiago.
Solar forecast for Caldera, 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 Caldera
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Places near Caldera
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A free, live card for Caldera: 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.