NOAA Solar Calculator – Home Page
You can determine Solar Noon, Apparent Sunrise, and Apparent Sunset for any place in the Unites States and pretty much any other place on the planet. Solar Noon is the exact time the sun is due south of your location and at its highest point in the sky for the day. Solar Noon is not the same as noon on your clock. First go here and you will see the U.S. map above.
As an example I am going to take you step by step to the water tower near Graceland University in Lamoni Iowa.
First, drag the red pin on the map to as close as you can get to your desired location. Then click the + at the upper left corner of the map to zoom in.
This is the result when I dragged the red pin to Iowa on the U.S. map, and then I zoomed in. After I zoomed in, I dragged the red pin even closer to Lamoni Iowa. I will repeat the process again.
This is the result. I am in Lamoni and getting closer to the water tower. I will zoom in and move the red pin again.
We are almost there. The tiny icon for the water tower showed up on the map. I am going to zoom in again.
In the image above we are at our location. Next I will click on the icon at the upper left to change the map to a satellite map.
Here is the red pin on the satellite map. I dragged the red pin to the base of the water tower. The next step is to scroll down the page to see Solar Noon, Apparent Sunrise, and Apparent Sunset for today’s date or any date of my choosing.
After scrolling down the page I can see the latitude and longitude of the red pin at the base of the water tower. The page defaults to today’s date and local time. You can change the date.
Under “Results” you can see Solar Noon, Apparent Sunrise, and Apparent Sunset for today (March 20, 2026). The times are in Savings Time at this time of year. Because earth’s atmosphere bends light rays, the time the sun actually rises and sets is different than the time your eyes see sunrise and sunset. Apparent Sunrise and Apparent Sunset is when your eyes see sunrise and sunset, assuming there are no obstructions on the horizon.
Just repeat this process to find Solar Noon, Sunrise, and Sunset for any location of your choice, and for any date of your choosing.
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