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, January 6, 2012 at 02:56:00 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, January 6, 2012 at 02:56:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	22° 34'	South
Longitude:	137° 05'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 428.38 meters/second, 1542.2 km/hour, 958.3 miles/hour or 832.7 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' 43.4"	957.91 mi	west	0° 00' 17.3"	0.33 mi	north	957.93 mi
24 hours	0° 06' 35.3"	7.02 mi	east	0° 07' 06.9"	8.16 mi	north	10.77 mi

Position of the Moon

On Friday, January 6, 2012 at 02:56:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	22° 12'	North
Longitude:	83° 03'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 415.07 meters/second, 1494.2 km/hour, 928.5 miles/hour or 806.8 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' 29.5"	15.48 mi	west	0° 00' 02.1"	0.04 mi	north	15.48 mi
1 hour	14° 29' 26.1"	928.17 mi	west	0° 02' 04.5"	2.38 mi	north	928.06 mi
24 hours	12° 23' 33.9"	793.88 mi	east	0° 18' 42.8"	21.46 mi	north	793.28 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
Alice Springs	Fri 12:26 PM	352 km	219 miles	190 nm	WSW
Cairns	Fri 12:56 PM	1105 km	686 miles	596 nm	ENE
Eucla	Fri 11:41 AM	1294 km	804 miles	699 nm	SW
Darwin	Fri 12:26 PM	1300 km	808 miles	702 nm	NNW
Adelaide *	Fri 1:26 PM	1378 km	856 miles	744 nm	S
Brisbane	Fri 12:56 PM	1696 km	1054 miles	916 nm	ESE
Port Moresby	Fri 12:56 PM	1809 km	1124 miles	977 nm	NE
Canberra *	Fri 1:56 PM	1831 km	1138 miles	988 nm	SE
Melbourne *	Fri 1:56 PM	1850 km	1150 miles	999 nm	SSE
Sydney *	Fri 1:56 PM	1864 km	1158 miles	1006 nm	SE