Qibla direction in Copiapó

How to face the Qibla in Copiapó

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 11.4° towards north: the result is the bearing of 78.6°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at east would leave you about 11° off.

Facing the Qibla is a condition of the prayer. Whoever prays inside the Sacred Mosque faces the Kaaba itself; whoever is far away, as in Copiapó, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. A nearby mosque is a handy reference, because its prayer rows were aligned when it was built. Once you know the direction at home, a discreet mark on the wall saves you from checking again.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Copiapó to Mecca points to 65.4° (north-east), 13.1° away from the correct 78.6°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 36 km longer than the true shortest route. The Qibla follows the great circle, the shortest path on the curved Earth, which is why the bearing differs.

How is the figure of 78.6° obtained? From the coordinates of Copiapó (27.3674° S, 70.3322° W) and of the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E), spherical trigonometry gives the starting bearing of the great circle joining them. Mosque architects and astronomical Qibla tables rely on exactly the same calculation.

Distance from Copiapó to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 13,001 km from Copiapó as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 13,097 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 15 h 48 min, although most pilgrims from Copiapó connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Copiapó run 6 hours behind Mecca in winter and 7 hours behind Mecca in summer, because of daylight saving time. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Copiapó rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Copiapó

On 225 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Copiapó 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 12:34 local time.

On 116 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 18:06.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both happen at night in Copiapó (05:18 and 05:27 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 Copiapó points straight to Mecca.

Copiapó compared with other cities

Compared with Santiago, Santiago Metropolitan, Chile, 678 km away, the Qibla in Copiapó is turned 3.3° further anticlockwise (78.6° against 81.8°), and Mecca is 145 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Coquimbo (304 km), prays towards 80.3°, a difference of 1.7°.

Across the 24 cities in Chile on this site, the Qibla ranges from 74.3° in Arica to 92.9° in Punta Arenas, a spread of 18.6°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Chile.

Qibla in cities near Copiapó

• Coquimbo80.3° · 304 km
• Antofagasta76.8° · 413 km
• Calama75.8° · 564 km
• Viña del Mar82.0° · 640 km
• Colina81.7° · 650 km
• Lampa81.8° · 660 km