Maranhão · Brazil · 2.23° S · 45.30° W
Solar position in Santa Helena
Sun position, daylight and the best solar panel angle for Santa Helena — computed for 2.23° S, 45.30° W, 12 m above sea level.
The sun right now
Sun in Santa Helena today
Saturday, 24 October 2026 · local time UTC−3
| Event | Time | Direction / height |
|---|---|---|
| Astronomical dawn | 04:29 | sun 18° below horizon |
| Nautical dawn | 04:54 | 12° below |
| Civil dawn | 05:19 | 6° below |
| Sunrise | 05:40 | 102° ESE |
| Golden hour ends | 06:08 | sun 6° up |
| Solar noon | 11:45 | 80.3° high |
| Golden hour starts | 17:22 | sun 6° up |
| Sunset | 17:50 | 258° WSW |
| Civil dusk | 18:11 | 6° below |
| Nautical dusk | 18:36 | 12° below |
| Astronomical dusk | 19:01 | 18° below |
| Day length | 12 h 10 min | |
Sun path diagram for Santa Helena
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 64.3° at solar noon in Santa Helena; on the December solstice only 68.8°. Sunrise swings from 67° ENE in June to 113° ESE in December — a 47° 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 | 06:05 | 12:12 | 18:19 | 12 h 14 min | 72.4° |
| February | 06:09 | 12:14 | 18:19 | 12 h 10 min | 81.8° |
| March | 06:05 | 12:08 | 18:11 | 12 h 06 min | 87.4° |
| April | 05:58 | 11:59 | 18:01 | 12 h 03 min | 75.8° |
| May | 05:57 | 11:57 | 17:58 | 12 h 01 min | 67.5° |
| June | 06:03 | 12:03 | 18:02 | 12 h 00 min | 64.3° |
| July | 06:07 | 12:07 | 18:07 | 12 h 00 min | 67.4° |
| August | 06:02 | 12:04 | 18:05 | 12 h 03 min | 75.8° |
| September | 05:51 | 11:54 | 17:57 | 12 h 06 min | 87.2° |
| October | 05:40 | 11:45 | 17:50 | 12 h 10 min | 81.4° |
| November | 05:40 | 11:47 | 17:53 | 12 h 14 min | 72.2° |
| December | 05:51 | 11:59 | 18:06 | 12 h 15 min | 68.8° |
A year of daylight in Santa Helena
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 Santa Helena
Fixed array facing north (azimuth 0°). Energy per kWp from NASA POWER monthly climate, including clouds, temperature and snow reflection.
4°collects the most energy over a year: 1477 kWh per kWp.
0°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 | March kWh/kWp/day | Best ÷ worst month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0° off-grid best | 1474 | 100% | 3.58 | 1.3× |
| 2° = latitude | 1477 | 100% | 3.58 | 1.3× |
| 4° year-round best | 1477 | 100% | 3.57 | 1.3× |
| 15° | 1456 | 99% | 3.49 | 1.4× |
| 30° | 1358 | 92% | 3.22 | 1.7× |
| 45° | 1186 | 80% | 2.79 | 2.2× |
| 60° | 958 | 65% | 2.22 | 3.2× |
| 70° | 801 | 54% | 1.78 | 3.4× |
| 90° | 539 | 36% | 0.99 | 2.6× |
A fixed array in Santa Helena produces the most over a year at 4°. The design month for an off-grid system is March: at 0° it makes 3.58 kWh per kWp a day, and costs 0% of the yearly total. Why steep panels win winter.
Off-grid solar in Santa Helena at 70°
Daily energy of 1 kWp by month. Bars: panels at 70°. Line: panels at 4° (year-round best).
| Month | Sun hours, flat | Sun hours at 70° | kWh/kWp/day at 70° | at 4° | Mean temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.74 | 1.41 | 1.10 | 3.66 | 27.3 °C |
| February | 4.59 | 1.67 | 1.32 | 3.59 | 26.5 °C |
| March | 4.51 | 2.23 | 1.78 | 3.57 | 26.3 °C |
| April | 4.53 | 2.93 | 2.37 | 3.64 | 26.3 °C |
| May | 4.74 | 3.73 | 3.03 | 3.85 | 26.5 °C |
| June | 4.98 | 4.38 | 3.58 | 4.08 | 26.3 °C |
| July | 5.23 | 4.46 | 3.64 | 4.28 | 26.2 °C |
| August | 5.76 | 4.09 | 3.32 | 4.66 | 27.0 °C |
| September | 5.92 | 3.05 | 2.45 | 4.70 | 28.1 °C |
| October | 5.77 | 1.98 | 1.56 | 4.50 | 28.8 °C |
| November | 5.44 | 1.37 | 1.06 | 4.18 | 29.0 °C |
| December | 5.00 | 1.38 | 1.07 | 3.83 | 28.5 °C |
| Year | 5.11 avg | 2.73 avg | 801 kWh | 1477 kWh |
Sizing example. To run a 1 kWh-per-day load through November on LiFePO4 batteries (charge controller, battery and inverter losses included) you need about 1,110 Wp of panels at 70°, versus 330 Wp at 4°. Here the lower tilt is the better winter choice — the sun stays high enough. Size your own system.
Row spacing in Santa Helena
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.
1.7 mrow pitch at 70°
2.1 mrow pitch at 4°
How Santa Helena compares in Brazil
Against the other 2,263 places in Brazil with climate data, for a fixed array at its best angle.
1324thof 2,264 places in Brazil for sunshine, shared: 5.11 peak sun hours a day on flat ground.
−7%solar energy a year compared with the average place in Brazil: 1,477 against 1,581 kWh per kWp.
−1 h 20 mindaylight on the longest day, compared with São Paulo: 12 h 15 min against 13 h 35 min.
4°best year-round tilt here; across Brazil it runs from 0° in Macapá to 28° in Santa Vitória do Palmar.
Of the 2,264 places in Brazil, Catolé do Rocha gets the most sun (6.16 peak sun hours a day) and Paranaguá the least (4.01); Santa Helena ranks joint 1324th. In its darkest month, November, 1 kWp of off-grid panels at 70° makes 1.06 kWh a day here, against 1.56 kWh on average in Brazil. The shortest day lasts 12 h 00 min, +1 h 19 min compared with São Paulo.
Solar forecast for Santa Helena, 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 Santa Helena
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Places near Santa Helena
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A free, live card for Santa Helena: 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.