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 Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 02:00:00 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 Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 02:00:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	20° 04'	South
Longitude:	152° 29'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 435.78 meters/second, 1568.8 km/hour, 974.8 miles/hour or 847.1 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' 59.8"	16.25 mi	west	0° 00' 00.4"	0.01 mi	north	16.25 mi
1 hour	14° 59' 49.1"	974.55 mi	west	0° 00' 32.8"	0.63 mi	north	974.57 mi
24 hours	0° 04' 17.3"	4.65 mi	east	0° 13' 16.10"	15.23 mi	north	15.92 mi

Position of the Moon

On Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 02:00:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	21° 47'	South
Longitude:	121° 57'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 414.12 meters/second, 1490.8 km/hour, 926.4 miles/hour or 805.0 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' 24.9"	15.44 mi	west	0° 00' 03.4"	0.07 mi	north	15.44 mi
1 hour	14° 24' 59.4"	926.10 mi	west	0° 03' 32.9"	4.07 mi	north	926.30 mi
24 hours	13° 44' 26.6"	882.72 mi	east	2° 01' 34.1"	139.40 mi	north	899.61 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
Cairns	Sat 12:00 Noon	789 km	490 miles	426 nm	WNW
Brisbane	Sat 12:00 Noon	823 km	511 miles	444 nm	S
Port Moresby	Sat 12:00 Noon	1304 km	810 miles	704 nm	NNW
Honiara	Sat 1:00 PM	1424 km	885 miles	769 nm	NE
Sydney *	Sat 1:00 PM	1535 km	954 miles	829 nm	S
Port Vila	Sat 1:00 PM	1687 km	1049 miles	911 nm	E
Canberra *	Sat 1:00 PM	1719 km	1068 miles	928 nm	S
Alice Springs	Sat 11:30 AM	1964 km	1220 miles	1060 nm	WSW
Melbourne *	Sat 1:00 PM	2098 km	1304 miles	1133 nm	SSW
Adelaide *	Sat 12:30 PM	2139 km	1329 miles	1155 nm	SW