Day and Night World Map

The map below shows the current position of the Sun and the Moon. It shows which parts of the Earth are in daylight and which are in night.

See where the moon is over the horizon

Map notes

• The day and night parts of the Earth shown are as of Friday, December 9, 2011 at 11:48:00 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 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

On Friday, December 9, 2011 at 11:48:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	22° 48'	South
Longitude:	0° 46'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 427.65 meters/second, 1539.6 km/hour, 956.6 miles/hour or 831.3 knots.The table below shows the Sun position compared to the time and date above:

Time	Longitude difference			Latitude difference			Total
later	Degrees	Distance	Direction	Degrees	Distance	Direction	Distance
1 minute	0° 14' 59.7"	15.95 mi	west	0° 00' 00.2"	0.00 mi	south	15.94 mi
1 hour	14° 59' 43.4"	956.29 mi	west	0° 00' 14.6"	0.28 mi	south	956.27 mi
24 hours	0° 06' 42.0"	7.13 mi	east	0° 05' 40.2"	6.50 mi	south	9.65 mi

Position of the Moon

On Friday, December 9, 2011 at 11:48:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	21° 56'	North
Longitude:	167° 12'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 416.01 meters/second, 1497.6 km/hour, 930.6 miles/hour or 808.7 knots.The table below shows the Moon position compared to the time and date above:

Time	Longitude difference			Latitude difference			Total
later	Degrees	Distance	Direction	Degrees	Distance	Direction	Distance
1 minute	0° 14' 29.7"	15.51 mi	west	0° 00' 02.9"	0.05 mi	north	15.51 mi
1 hour	14° 29' 43.7"	930.29 mi	west	0° 02' 49.4"	3.24 mi	north	930.14 mi
24 hours	12° 16' 08.0"	787.47 mi	east	0° 37' 27.2"	42.96 mi	north	786.91 mi

Locations with the Sun near zenith

The following table shows 10 locations with Sun near zenith position in the sky.

Location	Local time	Distance			Direction
Jamestown	Fri 11:48 AM	1022 km	635 miles	552 nm	NW
Windhoek *	Fri 1:48 PM	1677 km	1042 miles	906 nm	E
Luanda	Fri 12:48 PM	2040 km	1268 miles	1101 nm	NE
Cape Town	Fri 1:48 PM	2119 km	1317 miles	1144 nm	SE
Gaborone	Fri 1:48 PM	2568 km	1596 miles	1387 nm	E
Kinshasa	Fri 12:48 PM	2575 km	1600 miles	1391 nm	NE
Brazzaville	Fri 12:48 PM	2579 km	1602 miles	1393 nm	NE
São Tomé	Fri 11:48 AM	2641 km	1641 miles	1426 nm	NNE
Libreville	Fri 12:48 PM	2734 km	1699 miles	1476 nm	NNE
Maseru	Fri 1:48 PM	2762 km	1716 miles	1491 nm	ESE