Day and Night World Map

The map below shows the current position of the Sun and indicates which parts of the Earth are in day and which are in night.

Map notes

• The day and night parts of the Earth shown are as of Friday, November 20, 2009 at 23:34:00 UTC.
• The Sun's position is marked with this symbol:. At this location, the Sun will be at its zenith (directly overhead) in relation to an observer.
• The Moon's position is marked with this symbol:. At this location, the Moon will be at its zenith in relation to an observer. Note that the symbol is not showing the current phase of the Moon.
• Different shades of darkness are used to indicate night; these shades are in order from lightest to darkest:
  • Civil Twilight (lightest shade)
  • Nautical Twilight
  • Astronomical Twilight
  • Night, no twilight (darkest)
• Latitude circles
  • NPC – Northern Polar Circle, or Arctic Circle, is at latitude 66°34' N. At locations north of the Arctic Circle, the Sun is visible all day and night during a period before and after the June solstice.
  • NT – Northern Tropic, or Tropic of Cancer, is at latitude 23°26' N and is the northernmost latitude at which the Sun can be directly overhead (this occurs during June solstice, around June 21).
  • ST – Southern Tropic, or Tropic of Capricorn, is at latitude 23°26' S S and is the southernmost latitude at which the Sun can be directly overhead (this occurs during December solstice, around December 21).
  • SPC – Southern Polar Circle, or Antarctic Circle, is at latitude 66°34' S. South of this latitude, the Sun is visible all day and night during summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
• Map is generated based on images from NASA

Position of the Sun

During the next hour, the Sun's position relative to Earth's surface will move in an westerly direction by 14° 59' 51" longitude and in a southerly direction by 0° 00' 33" latitude.

The average ground speed of the movement is currently 436.26 meters/second, 1570.5 km/hour, 975.9 miles/hour or 848.0 knots.

Locations with the Sun near zenith

Location	Local time	Distance			Direction
Tonga - Nukualofa	Sat 12:34 PM	236 km	147 miles	127 nm	SE
Fiji - Suva	Sat 11:34 AM	515 km	320 miles	278 nm	WNW
Wallis and Futuna - Mata-Utu	Sat 11:34 AM	735 km	457 miles	397 nm	N
Niue - Alofi	Fri 12:34 PM	755 km	469 miles	407 nm	E
Samoa - Apia	Fri 12:34 PM	879 km	546 miles	475 nm	NE
American Samoa - Pago Pago	Fri 12:34 PM	918 km	571 miles	496 nm	NE
Tuvalu - Funafuti	Sat 11:34 AM	1321 km	821 miles	713 nm	NNW
Tokelau - Tokelau - Fakaofo	Fri 1:34 PM	1322 km	821 miles	714 nm	NNE
Vanuatu - Port Vila	Sat 10:34 AM	1560 km	970 miles	843 nm	W
France - New Caledonia - Noumea	Sat 10:34 AM	1734 km	1077 miles	936 nm	WSW

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More information

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• December Solstice
• Vernal Equinox
• June Solstice

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