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 21:32:00 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 21:32:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	12° 18'	South
Longitude:	139° 46'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 453.27 meters/second, 1631.8 km/hour, 1013.9 miles/hour or 881.1 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° 15' 00.0"	16.90 mi	west	0° 00' 00.9"	0.02 mi	north	16.90 mi
1 hour	15° 00' 02.2"	1013.88 mi	west	0° 00' 52.0"	0.99 mi	north	1013.91 mi
24 hours	0° 00' 59.1"	1.11 mi	west	0° 20' 55.6"	23.98 mi	north	24.00 mi

Position of the Moon

On Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 21:32:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	22° 06'	South
Longitude:	155° 49'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 413.44 meters/second, 1488.4 km/hour, 924.8 miles/hour or 803.7 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' 25.4"	15.42 mi	west	0° 00' 01.8"	0.03 mi	north	15.42 mi
1 hour	14° 25' 26.8"	924.58 mi	west	0° 01' 53.6"	2.17 mi	north	924.68 mi
24 hours	13° 37' 13.0"	873.08 mi	east	1° 22' 12.1"	94.26 mi	north	882.27 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
Taiohae	Thu 12:02 PM	366 km	228 miles	198 nm	N
Papeete	Thu 11:32 AM	1203 km	748 miles	650 nm	WSW
Adamstown	Thu 1:32 PM	1740 km	1081 miles	940 nm	SE
Rarotonga	Thu 11:32 AM	2349 km	1459 miles	1268 nm	WSW
Kiritimati	Fri 11:32 AM	2496 km	1551 miles	1348 nm	NW
Alofi	Thu 10:32 AM	3313 km	2059 miles	1789 nm	WSW
Fakaofo	Fri 10:32 AM	3455 km	2147 miles	1865 nm	W
Apia *	Fri 11:32 AM	3473 km	2158 miles	1875 nm	W
Easter Island *	Thu 4:32 PM	3571 km	2219 miles	1928 nm	ESE
Nukualofa	Fri 10:32 AM	3894 km	2420 miles	2103 nm	WSW