Astronomical Cartography

The Calendar of Light

How latitude shapes the day. Six cities. Twelve months. Every minute of sunlight.

Morocco spans 5.4° of latitude — from Tangier at 35.8°N to Agadir at 30.4°N. That difference means Tangier gets 4.8 more hours of daylight variation between solstices than Agadir. In June, Tangier sees 19:12 sunsets; Agadir sees 18:59. By December, Tangier's day shrinks to 9.6 hours while Agadir holds at 10.0. Latitude is destiny — for light, for agriculture, for Ramadan fasting hours.

Daylight Hours by Month

Click a city. Hover bars for sunrise/sunset times. Taller bar = longer day.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

14.4h

Longest day (June solstice)

9.6h

Shortest day (Dec solstice)

4.8h

Seasonal swing

City Comparison: June vs December

Higher latitude = wider swing between seasons. Tangier feels the difference most.

Tangier35.8°N

9.6h Dec

14.4h Jun

±4.8h

Fes34.0°N

9.7h Dec

14.3h Jun

±4.5h

Rabat34.0°N

9.7h Dec

14.3h Jun

±4.5h

Casablanca33.6°N

9.8h Dec

14.2h Jun

±4.4h

Marrakech31.6°N

9.9h Dec

14.1h Jun

±4.1h

Agadir30.4°N

10.0h Dec

14.0h Jun

±3.9h

Why This Matters: Ramadan Fasting Hours

During Ramadan (Feb 28 – Mar 30, 2026), Muslims fast from dawn to sunset. In late February/March, Tangier's fasting day is approximately 11.7 hours while Agadir's is 11.8 hours — a difference of about -0 minutes. When Ramadan falls in summer, that gap widens dramatically.

For the 2030 World Cup (June–July), match scheduling must account for light. Evening matches in Tangier can start later — sunset at 19:12 vs Agadir's 18:59. An extra 14 minutes of twilight means different floodlight costs, different crowd behaviour, different broadcast windows.

Light is infrastructure. It determines when you eat, when you pray, when you play football, and when you harvest. Morocco's 5.4 degrees of latitude produce a subtle gradient that shapes everything from Ramadan endurance to World Cup scheduling. The sun does not care about borders — but it cares about latitude.

Sources

Daylight calculations from standard solar declination formulae using city latitude coordinates. Sunrise/sunset times are solar (not clock) time — actual clock times vary with timezone, equation of time, and Morocco's seasonal daylight saving changes. Stadium capacities from Morocco 2030 World Cup bid documents and AFCON 2025 records. Ramadan dates from Umm al-Qura calendar (Saudi Arabia) adjusted for Moroccan sighting.