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 22:48:00 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 Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 22:48:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	19° 52'	South
Longitude:	159° 27'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 436.31 meters/second, 1570.7 km/hour, 976.0 miles/hour or 848.1 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' 59.7"	16.27 mi	west	0° 00' 00.6"	0.01 mi	north	16.27 mi
1 hour	14° 59' 49.5"	975.74 mi	west	0° 00' 33.6"	0.64 mi	north	975.76 mi
24 hours	0° 04' 07.5"	4.47 mi	east	0° 13' 36.1"	15.60 mi	north	16.23 mi

Position of the Moon

On Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 22:48:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	20° 06'	South
Longitude:	178° 06'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 419.39 meters/second, 1509.8 km/hour, 938.1 miles/hour or 815.2 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' 26.1"	15.64 mi	west	0° 00' 06.1"	0.12 mi	north	15.64 mi
1 hour	14° 26' 14.3"	937.93 mi	west	0° 06' 14.3"	7.15 mi	north	938.27 mi
24 hours	13° 09' 32.6"	854.93 mi	east	2° 59' 57.4"	206.30 mi	north	887.01 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	Sat 12:48 PM	155 km	96 miles	84 nm	SSW
Papeete	Sat 12:48 PM	1075 km	668 miles	580 nm	ENE
Alofi	Sat 11:48 AM	1102 km	685 miles	595 nm	W
Apia *	Sun 12:48 PM	1472 km	914 miles	795 nm	WNW
Nukualofa	Sun 11:48 AM	1647 km	1024 miles	890 nm	W
Fakaofo	Sun 11:48 AM	1719 km	1068 miles	928 nm	NW
Suva	Sun 10:48 AM	2335 km	1451 miles	1261 nm	W
Kiritimati	Sun 12:48 PM	2415 km	1501 miles	1304 nm	N
Funafuti	Sun 10:48 AM	2618 km	1627 miles	1413 nm	WNW
Baker Island	Sat 10:48 AM	2893 km	1798 miles	1562 nm	NW