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, February 16, 2012 at 16:00:00 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 Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 16:00:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	12° 23'	South
Longitude:	56° 45'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 453.13 meters/second, 1631.3 km/hour, 1013.6 miles/hour or 880.8 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° 15' 00.0"	16.90 mi	west	0° 00' 00.9"	0.02 mi	north	16.90 mi
1 hour	15° 00' 02.1"	1013.57 mi	west	0° 00' 52.0"	0.99 mi	north	1013.59 mi
24 hours	0° 00' 56.8"	1.07 mi	west	0° 20' 53.0"	23.93 mi	north	23.95 mi

Position of the Moon

On Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 16:00:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	22° 14'	South
Longitude:	124° 23'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 412.97 meters/second, 1486.7 km/hour, 923.8 miles/hour or 802.8 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' 25.2"	15.40 mi	west	0° 00' 01.0"	0.02 mi	north	15.40 mi
1 hour	14° 25' 16.4"	923.52 mi	west	0° 01' 07.6"	1.29 mi	north	923.58 mi
24 hours	13° 43' 06.7"	878.55 mi	east	1° 04' 38.5"	74.13 mi	north	884.97 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
Barra do Garças	Thu 1:00 PM	622 km	386 miles	336 nm	SE
Brasilia *	Thu 2:00 PM	1030 km	640 miles	556 nm	ESE
Manaus	Thu 12:00 Noon	1086 km	675 miles	586 nm	NNW
Sucre	Thu 12:00 Noon	1171 km	728 miles	632 nm	SW
La Paz	Thu 12:00 Noon	1308 km	813 miles	706 nm	WSW
Asuncion *	Thu 1:00 PM	1431 km	889 miles	773 nm	S
Belém	Thu 1:00 PM	1515 km	941 miles	818 nm	NE
São Paulo *	Thu 2:00 PM	1636 km	1017 miles	884 nm	SE
Rio de Janeiro *	Thu 2:00 PM	1854 km	1152 miles	1001 nm	SE
Cayenne	Thu 1:00 PM	1976 km	1228 miles	1067 nm	NNE