Noon

Noon is the time exactly halfway through the day, written 12:00 in the 24-hour clock and 12:00 noon in the 12-hour clock. Midday is also used as a synonym for noon, although this may also be a more general term to mean around noon, or very early afternoon.

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Solar noon is when the sun appears the highest in the sky (nearest zenith), compared to its positions during the rest of the day. It occurs when the Sun is transitting the celestial meridian, exactly halfway between sunrise and sunset. This is also the origin of the terms ante meridiem and post meridiem. At solar noon, the sun is due south in the Northern Hemisphere, and due north in the Southern Hemisphere. (Actually, this is not strictly true, but the maximum difference between noon and sun due-south is a mere 16 seconds of time at 45 degrees North latitude, and 3 minutes at 85oN.) The sun is directly overhead at solar noon at the equator on the equinoxes; at Tropic of Cancer (latitude 23½°N) on the summer solstice in June; and at Tropic of Capricorn (23½°S) on the winter solstice in December.

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Due to the use of time zones and daylight saving time, there are many places in the world where the highest point of the sun and the clock time of noon do not coincide.

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The opposite of noon is midnight.

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Day: See also Day (language)...

24-hour clock: The 24-hour clock is a convention of time-keeping in which the day runs from midnight to midnight and is divided into 24 hours, numbered from 0 to 23 (and 24 in the day-ending midnight). This system is the most commonly used time notation in the world of today. The United States is the only ind...

12-hour clock: :"A.M." redirects here; for the modulation technique, see Amplitude modulation....

Noon related Images and Photos (experimental)

At Noon	Noon Day Sun	Noon Landscape	Noon Landscape
High Noon	At Noon II	Purple Noon	Noon in Italy
Shanghai Noon	Purple Noon 1964	High Noon Gary Cooper 1952	High Noon Gary Cooper 1952