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 Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 22:18:00 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 Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 22:18:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	22° 36'	South
Longitude:	153° 26'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 428.31 meters/second, 1541.9 km/hour, 958.1 miles/hour or 832.6 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"	15.97 mi	west	0° 00' 00.3"	0.01 mi	north	15.97 mi
1 hour	14° 59' 43.2"	957.76 mi	west	0° 00' 17.0"	0.33 mi	north	957.77 mi
24 hours	0° 06' 36.7"	7.04 mi	east	0° 07' 01.9"	8.06 mi	north	10.71 mi

Position of the Moon

On Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 22:18:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	22° 01'	North
Longitude:	15° 54'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 415.70 meters/second, 1496.5 km/hour, 929.9 miles/hour or 808.1 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"	15.50 mi	west	0° 00' 02.5"	0.05 mi	north	15.50 mi
1 hour	14° 29' 38.1"	929.59 mi	west	0° 02' 34.6"	2.95 mi	north	929.45 mi
24 hours	12° 19' 39.3"	790.73 mi	east	0° 31' 17.4"	35.89 mi	north	790.08 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
Rarotonga	Thu 12:18 PM	672 km	418 miles	363 nm	WNW
Papeete	Thu 12:18 PM	691 km	430 miles	373 nm	NE
Alofi	Thu 11:18 AM	1759 km	1093 miles	950 nm	W
Apia *	Fri 12:18 PM	2165 km	1345 miles	1169 nm	WNW
Nukualofa	Fri 11:18 AM	2253 km	1400 miles	1217 nm	W
Adamstown	Thu 2:18 PM	2390 km	1485 miles	1291 nm	ESE
Fakaofo	Fri 11:18 AM	2398 km	1490 miles	1295 nm	NW
Kiritimati	Fri 12:18 PM	2739 km	1702 miles	1479 nm	N
Suva *	Fri 11:18 AM	2974 km	1848 miles	1606 nm	W
Chatham Islands *	Fri 12:03 PM	3184 km	1979 miles	1719 nm	SW