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 20, 2012 at 08:00:00 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 20, 2012 at 08:00:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	20° 13'	South
Longitude:	62° 26'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 435.33 meters/second, 1567.2 km/hour, 973.8 miles/hour or 846.2 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"	16.23 mi	west	0° 00' 00.5"	0.01 mi	north	16.23 mi
1 hour	14° 59' 48.6"	973.53 mi	west	0° 00' 32.0"	0.61 mi	north	973.56 mi
24 hours	0° 04' 25.5"	4.79 mi	east	0° 13' 00.0"	14.91 mi	north	15.66 mi

Position of the Moon

On Friday, January 20, 2012 at 08:00:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	22° 27'	South
Longitude:	21° 20'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 411.91 meters/second, 1482.9 km/hour, 921.4 miles/hour or 800.7 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' 24.3"	15.36 mi	west	0° 00' 00.9"	0.02 mi	north	15.36 mi
1 hour	14° 24' 22.4"	921.13 mi	west	0° 00' 57.1"	1.09 mi	north	921.19 mi
24 hours	14° 06' 02.5"	901.61 mi	east	1° 02' 50.1"	72.06 mi	north	907.82 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
Port Louis	Fri 12:00 Noon	515 km	320 miles	278 nm	W
Saint-Denis	Fri 12:00 Noon	731 km	454 miles	395 nm	W
Antananarivo	Fri 11:00 AM	1570 km	976 miles	848 nm	W
Diego Garcia	Fri 2:00 PM	1787 km	1111 miles	965 nm	NE
Victoria	Fri 12:00 Noon	1884 km	1171 miles	1017 nm	NNW
Moroni	Fri 11:00 AM	2251 km	1399 miles	1216 nm	WNW
Dar es Salaam	Fri 11:00 AM	2904 km	1805 miles	1568 nm	WNW
Male	Fri 1:00 PM	2958 km	1838 miles	1597 nm	NNE
Mogadishu	Fri 11:00 AM	3089 km	1920 miles	1668 nm	NW
Maputo	Fri 10:00 AM	3116 km	1936 miles	1682 nm	WSW