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 Tuesday, March 6, 2012 at 22:36:00 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 Tuesday, March 6, 2012 at 22:36:00 UTC the Sun is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	5° 14'	South
Longitude:	156° 31'	West

The ground speed of the movement is currently 461.99 meters/second, 1663.2 km/hour, 1033.5 miles/hour or 898.0 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' 00.1"	17.23 mi	west	0° 00' 01.0"	0.02 mi	north	17.23 mi
1 hour	15° 00' 08.9"	1033.50 mi	west	0° 00' 58.3"	1.11 mi	north	1033.51 mi
24 hours	0° 03' 39.1"	4.20 mi	west	0° 23' 22.1"	26.77 mi	north	27.09 mi

Position of the Moon

On Tuesday, March 6, 2012 at 22:36:00 UTC the Moon is at its zenith at these coordinates:

Latitude:	7° 51'	North
Longitude:	3° 18'	East

The ground speed of the movement is currently 443.78 meters/second, 1597.6 km/hour, 992.7 miles/hour or 862.6 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' 29.0"	16.54 mi	west	0° 00' 12.4"	0.24 mi	south	16.55 mi
1 hour	14° 29' 05.7"	992.62 mi	west	0° 12' 32.5"	14.37 mi	south	992.97 mi
24 hours	12° 24' 00.2"	849.76 mi	east	5° 14' 02.3"	359.67 mi	south	926.57 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
Kiritimati	Wed 12:36 PM	789 km	491 miles	426 nm	N
Papeete	Tue 12:36 PM	1558 km	968 miles	841 nm	SSE
Fakaofo	Wed 11:36 AM	1688 km	1049 miles	912 nm	WSW
Rarotonga	Tue 12:36 PM	1806 km	1122 miles	975 nm	S
Apia *	Wed 12:36 PM	1925 km	1196 miles	1040 nm	WSW
Alofi	Tue 11:36 AM	2111 km	1312 miles	1140 nm	SW
Baker Island	Tue 10:36 AM	2299 km	1429 miles	1241 nm	WNW
Nukualofa	Wed 11:36 AM	2678 km	1664 miles	1446 nm	SW
Funafuti	Wed 10:36 AM	2706 km	1682 miles	1461 nm	W
Honolulu	Tue 12:36 PM	2939 km	1826 miles	1587 nm	N