Qibla direction in Comodoro Rivadavia

How to face the Qibla in Comodoro Rivadavia

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 3.6° towards north: the result is the bearing of 86.4°. The direction is close to due east, which makes it easy to remember.

Scholars agree that someone who can see the Kaaba must face it exactly, while someone far away faces its direction (jihat al-Ka‘bah) as precisely as reasonably possible. If a mosque is nearby, its mihrab and prayer lines are the easiest reference, since they were set when the building was laid out. At home, mark the direction once with tape or a small arrow so the whole family prays the same way.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

This is a place where maps mislead badly: a straight line on a flat map from Comodoro Rivadavia to Mecca points to 55.5° (north-east), a full 30.9° away from the true Qibla of 86.4° (east). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 202 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Comodoro Rivadavia first heads east, and that is the direction to face.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 45.8626° S, 67.4940° W to the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E). It is the method used by mosque architects and by every serious Qibla calculator, and it gives one exact answer for each point on Earth.

Distance from Comodoro Rivadavia to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 13,018 km from Comodoro Rivadavia as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 13,224 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 15 h 49 min, although most pilgrims from Comodoro Rivadavia connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Comodoro Rivadavia run 6 hours behind Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Comodoro Rivadavia rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Comodoro Rivadavia

On 177 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Comodoro Rivadavia while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in January (31 days); for example, on 1 January 2027 it happens at 09:30 local time.

On 152 days the sun stands exactly opposite the Qibla: then the shadow of any vertical object, a pole, a door frame or a plumb line, points straight towards Mecca. This is most frequent in January (31 days), for instance on 1 January 2027 at 18:17.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both happen at night in Comodoro Rivadavia (06:18 and 06:27 local time), so they cannot be used here. Instead, on 13 January 2027 at 18:29 and 28 November 2027 at 18:09 the sun is over the point opposite the Kaaba, and every vertical shadow in Comodoro Rivadavia points straight to Mecca.

Comodoro Rivadavia compared with other cities

Compared with Buenos Aires, 1,469 km away, the Qibla in Comodoro Rivadavia is turned 10.2° further clockwise (86.4° against 76.3°), and Mecca is 957 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Neuquén (770 km), prays towards 83.3°, a difference of 3.1°.

Among the 34 cities in Argentina on this site, Comodoro Rivadavia has the largest Qibla bearing; the smallest is 73.1° in Posadas. Across the country the direction varies by 13.3°.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Argentina.

Qibla in cities near Comodoro Rivadavia

• Neuquén83.3° · 770 km
• Bahía Blanca79.8° · 903 km
• Santa Rosa, La Pampa Province, Argentina80.1° · 1,062 km
• Tandil77.6° · 1,175 km
• Mar del Plata76.9° · 1,198 km
• San Rafael81.3° · 1,253 km